Ultimatum
by FreedomInTheMusic
Summary: Emma's doubts leading up to her marriage to Neal are only intensified by the most unexpected chain of events regarding the one and only Regina Mills. To say she was conflicted would be an understatement. Rated M for later chapters. Warning: May contain small moments of Swan Thief...but do not despair.
1. Chapter 1

**Ultimatum**

**A/N: Hey guys! So this is my first multi-chapter fic. I hope I don't manage to mess this up too much. As always, constructive critisism is greatly appreciated and reviews will probably result in me doing happy dances all over the place and faster updates (hopefully). So yeah, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything. That delight lies with ABC Studios.

**Chapter 1**

Emma's breath caught in her throat as she once again caught sight of the new addition to her ring finger as it glittered in the sunshine that streamed through the large and open windows of the apartment. The sight that she had welcomed with blinding happiness and fierce hopes for the future now just seemed to add an uncomfortable, constricting weight to her once unrestrained finger. She had spent most of her adult life believing that she would probably spend her life the way she had always spent it; alone. The novelty that someone would want to spend the rest of their life with her, especially a man who had left her to rot in prison at the wishes of freaking Pinocchio − who had abandoned her once before − and due to the fear of his father finding him, was not entirely lost on her.

Things with Neal would never be the same as they had been when Emma was 17 and whole-heartedly trusted the thief who could get her out of every tight spot and had undeniably stolen her heart, but Emma could not deny that she had never gotten over her feelings for him. Such things were hard to do, especially after guarding oneself so fiercely from the danger of being hurt again.

If Emma's doubts had been enough to call of the engagement within the first few weeks, the happy look on Henry's face was enough for Emma to shove all those thoughts to the back of her mind. Nothing in the world would ever stop the glowing feeling Emma felt inside of her when she saw the cute, boyish smile of her son. And how could she deny him the hope that they could be a real, happy family? It was what she had always dreamt for him, even from the moment she had found out about his existence.

However, there was also an ever present and nagging dream of the happily ever after that everyone assumed should be achieved by the seemingly deserving Saviour. This idea had ingrained itself into the minds of all the members of the Enchanted Forest and had seeped into Emma's subconscious as well. She felt herself yearning for a happily ever after that everyone seemed to expect for her. Truthfully, as long as Henry was happy, that would be enough for her and if that meant acting upon her feelings for Neal, regardless of what had happened between them and the nagging doubts, then she would be prepared to do it. After all, she had learnt that some things in life seemed to be the work of fate and perhaps, this had always been her fate.

Sighing heavily, Emma turned the ring around on her finger; a subconscious, nervous action that she knew she must have picked up from Mary Margaret. As long as Henry was happy, with his family all stitched together and the split custody that her and Regina had finally been able to settle on, then Emma felt she had no reason or right to doubt that the acceptance of Neal's proposal had been the right decision to make.

"Morning Ma." came Henry's sleepy voice from the corner of the room, starling Emma out of her thoughts. The now 12 year-old boy shuffled into the middle of the new apartment that Emma had gotten in order to provide enough space for the new family she had created. It also didn't hurt that she now didn't have to deal with the knowledge that her parents were being sickeningly sweet and disgustingly happy just beneath where her bedroom was situated.

"Hey kid. Cereal?" Emma asked, moving to get out all the things Henry would need for his breakfast. There was still a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that she would never be able to match up to Regina's years of experience when it came to Henry's morning routine. Regardless of Emma's lack of ability to provide an interesting breakfast, Henry gratefully took the bowl of Froot Loops and began happily munching away.

Emma just smiled as she watched her growing son scarf down the food at a speed that Regina would have certainly apprehended, but she could never bring herself to stop her son. As she stood and watched Henry, she felt the presence of someone behind her and instinctively stiffened as she felt breath tickle the back of her neck. It wasn't until a soft kiss was planted on her shoulder that Emma let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding in.

"G'morning beautiful." Neal whispered, spinning her around and kissing her softly, regardless of the mock look of disgust that Henry wore on his face. "What are you doing today? I thought maybe we could go somewhere and have some alone time?" He said, waggling his eyebrows playfully.

"Neal, you know I have to go into the station today. Plus I have a lunch meeting with Regina and if I dare miss that she will probably kill me." Emma groaned, shrugging out of the hold Neal had around her waist. Henry nodded in silent agreement and shrugged at the puppy dog eyes Neal threw his way.

"She's right Neal. Mom's stressed and if you so much as step outside of her schedule…well it's kind of scary!" Henry shrugged. "It's just really best not to anger her right now."

"And the kid has spoken!" Emma said, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to show on her face. "I'll just see you later tonight after girls' night. And no, before you ask I can't blow it off because Ruby has been planning this for weeks."

Realising defeat, Neal simply sighed. He placed another kiss upon Emma's lips again; revelling in the feeling that he had missed for all of the 10 years he had been forced to live with his guilt of leaving her in prison.

"Fine, fine! But we really do need to spend some quality time together, Emma. Anyone would think you were trying to avoid me." Neal said, with an empty chuckle that suggested that even he had begun to think that way.

"I know…" Emma said with a sigh, running a hand through her previously untouched and unmussed blonde hair. "Things are just busy at the moment. But we'll go our for dinner soon, I promise."

Emma smiled sheepishly at Neal, trying to defuse the sadness she could already see on his face. Slowly but surely, her fiancé smiled in return and the slight tension in the air dissipated and both of the adults fell back into the easy routine of fooling themselves into believing that this whole situation seemed right.

Neal begrudgingly bid her goodbye as she leaned up to kiss him chastely on the lips and then grabbed her red leather jacket, which she had been recently neglecting. Emma looked back at the sheer domesticity of the scene in her kitchen, before heading out of the door with a quick reminder for Neal to ensure that Henry isn't late for school or else he would have Regina, Mary Margaret and Emma to answer to. The normalcy of the scene was something that Emma never thought she could get used to.

To Neal, the skittish and distant behaviour that Emma was showcasing wasn't exactly uncharacteristic for the blonde, but he just hoped that the behaviour would not grow any further than just needing some time to herself or getting a slight case of cold-feet. Neal wanted nothing more than to have his 10-year-old dream of having a proper, stable family with Emma. There was nothing he wouldn't do to make up for the years that they lost at being a family and the fact that their happy ending could fall apart in the blink of an eye sent a nervous twinge through his stomach.

* * *

The clock ticked obnoxiously with every passing second that it moved past the half hour and with each passing minute, Regina could feel the vein on her forehead become more prominent as agitation itched throughout her entire body. There was no way in hell that she would allow for Emma to get off lightly for being 10 minutes late to their lunch meeting. There was nothing more important, she had stressed to the irritating blonde, than her promptness and organisation for this discussion over the budget of the Sheriff's office and the undignified grumbling of the mayor's stomach had also factored into the request for the lack of tardiness. As usual, Emma's inability to follow the simplest instructions provided a massive thorn in the Regina's side.

Regina wondered what would happen if she worked on a spell that would manage to permanently attach a watch to Emma's wrist. Or maybe several would finally be sufficient to make sure the woman kept time correctly. Knowing Emma, not even that would be enough. While deep in the midst of trying to figure out how many watches would indeed fit on Emma's wrists, Regina's secretary broke her thoughts by finally announcing the Sheriff's eventual arrival.

Choosing to stand up and glower at the door and her new visitor, the stance oozed intimidation and power that commanded the attention of anyone regardless of the expansive size and grandeur of her office. The sight caused a sheepish expression to cover Emma's face once she had crossed the threshold into the mayoral office and grimace at the rage that was bound to be unleashed upon her. Regina continued to glare at her, even when the blonde waved a white flag in the form of two takeout bags from Granny's towards the former Queen.

"Getting lunch took longer than I expected." Emma muttered with a small grin plastered on her face. She placed both bags on the desk and began retrieving Regina's usual chicken salad and a coffee from one bag and a grilled cheese for herself from the other, trying to avoid meeting the murderous gaze of the woman in front of her.

"I don't care if an ogre had decided to take a stroll down Main Street! You should have been here 10 minutes ago, Miss Swan!" came the low and dangerous reply from the older woman.

"Oh come on Regina, I bought you your favourite. You know how much you love Granny's chicken salad! Plus I had to diffuse an argument between Granny and Hook. I don't know why that pirate thinks he can continually make passes at Ruby without facing any repercussions." Emma sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically. "One day that man is going to have an arrow to the crotch from Granny's crossbow and then he might finally get the message that 'no' really does mean no."

Regina tried to hide the smirk that threatened to tug on her lips at the mention of Hook's misfortune, revelling in the enjoyment of the pirate failing at his conquests and being constantly bested by a surly old woman with a crossbow.

"Very well, just make sure it doesn't happen again." Regina said, trying to maintain the stern look on her face. "Take a seat, Sheriff."

Emma flashed Regina a knowing smile and chuckled at the Mayor's continual insistence on playing the professional figure regardless of the amicable relationship the two women had managed to form over the past year. Regina's behaviour was endearing after awhile, regardless of whether she was berating Emma for her constant tardiness. There was something about the bickering that entertained Emma to an extent that she was never got at home with Neal. She would never tell the older woman this, nor would she dare tell Neal or her parents. All of them would thing she was going insane. Although, perhaps Emma was going insane after all.

Working together was certainly a lot easier now that they weren't at each others throats every five seconds. The lunch meeting went by swiftly, which surprised Emma to no end, as she was sure that budget meetings had been created to act as one of the circles of her own personal hell.

"I have to say sheriff, you have gotten much better at this." Regina said as she shuffled her papers back into place, pleased with the ease at which the meeting had actually gone.

"Was that a compliment, Madame Mayor? I should write this moment down and have it framed." Emma laughed, earning a death glare as she gathered her papers and forced them into her bag. The papers crinkled on their forceful entry into the bag, causing Regina to scrunch up her nose in disgust at the poor treatment of the paperwork that had no doubt taken hours to fill out.

"I wouldn't expect a lot of compliments. I must just be having an off day, princess."

"Whatever you say, your majesty." Emma laughed, standing out of her chair and smiling down at Regina, who seemed to be attempting to hide a smirk behind her stoic mayoral mask. "Hey, are you doing anything tonight?"

"No. Why do you ask, Miss Swan? Are you planning on staging an attack on my home while I am out? Is it to do with that vile filth that was thrown on my house during last Halloween?"

"It was toilet paper soaked in eggs. But no I am not staging an attack. You'd make me clean it off of your house, _again_. Which is not within my job description Regina, which you are fully aware of."

"Yes, but had you been doing your job correctly by keeping that damned moody dwarf under control, my house would not have been attacked, would it Sheriff?"

"Just let it go! It was months ago and Leroy apologised, Regina." Emma sighed, exasperated by the older woman. She ran her hands through her hair, quickly debating whether she should even pose the question that had been flying around in her brain for the past few days. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to come to The Rabbit Hole with the me and the girls later? Henry said you were feeling stressed, so some relaxation might be fun?"

Regina gaped at the blonde in shock, too taken aback to even reprimand Emma for her poor use of grammar. She tilted her head, contemplating as to whether Emma was just asking in order to make a fool of her later when no one else showed up. She scrutinised the way Emma swiftly shoved her hands in her back pockets and began to scuff her feet on the hard marble floor. The blonde saviour looked more awkward at the amount of time that has lapsed in utter silence, more than anything else; there was no hint of any malice. That didn't, however make the invitation any less strange and out of character, even for their improved relationship.

Emma was silently praying that Regina would just accept the offer already. Instead, Regina was staring her down as if she had revealed a sinister plot to murder her, rather than just a simple invitation for drinks. She knew that if Regina decided that she would not go, the only topic of conversation would be that of the upcoming wedding. Mary Margaret would be gushing over wedding dresses and floral plans, while Ruby usually tried to get juicy details about the plans for the honeymoon and what they were going to see, or not see as Ruby liked to add with a wink. Emma would rather jam her fork in her own eye than have an evening full of wedding talk. Regina could provide just the distraction she needed and also some soothing of the still present feud between her mother and Regina couldn't hurt, surely?

"Fine. I will come. But if Snow so much as begins to show herself for the snivelling idiot she truly is, I am leaving. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Regina. I'll pick you up at 8pm! Make sure you aren't late." Emma said, releasing a sigh of relief as an easy smile spread across her face and she winked at Regina, not even bothering to defend her mother. "I'll see you later then!"

The blonde turned and all but bounded outside of the office, leaving Regina to stare after her, dumbstruck by what had just happened. Slowly leaning back further into her chair, she allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she thought about the smile that had been offered to her first by her enemy's daughter. Emma truly seemed happy that Regina had accepted the invitation and regardless of whether it would probably be one of the most irritating nights Regina would have had to deal with in recent memory, Emma would probably make it a little bit more bearable.

Quickly shaking her head of all thoughts of the sheriff, Regina had to remind herself that she was not supposed to look forward to spending time with Emma Swan. She was not supposed to want to do anything to do with Emma that wasn't necessary in maintaining a healthy situation for Henry or for the sanity of the town. No, Regina was merely going in order to get in a few biting comments towards poor Snow White. That was it. Any other suggestion was completely ridiculous. Although, that did not explain why, despite her best efforts, Regina's smile refused to completely fall from her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Aloha! I have decided to update this fic weekly, so hopefully I can stick to that and not procrastinate too much! :D Once again, any thing you think needs to be improved such as characterisation and such, please let me now so I can try my hardest to rectify that in future chapters! :D**

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

After what had seemed like an eternity of filing paper work, the end of Emma's work day−and her thoughts of Regina and that coming night−was signalled by the arrival of Mary Margaret. The former schoolteacher gave Emma one of those motherly smiles and reassuring shoulder squeezes that she was quickly become accustomed to from her mother.

"Hi Emma, how's your day been?" the shorthaired brunette asked, allowing an easy and interested smile to grace her face.

"It's been okay." Emma shrugged. She begun nervously picking at the papers that littered her desk, knowing that any second now, Mary Margaret would ask her exactly why she her daughter had called her into the station to tell her something. The prospect of telling her mother about inviting Regina had seemed like an easy enough task, until it had finally arrived. The blonde looked up warily at the woman in front of her and smiled sheepishly.

"Emma…what's wrong? You're acting weird."

Clearing her throat and placing her hands flat on the desk, Emma steeled herself for the reaction she knew was going to come after she actually voiced her confession. Taking a shaky breath, she managed to keep eye contact with the expectant woman in front of her.

"I invited Regina to join us tonight."

Silence. Mary Margaret's eyes had widened dramatically, her mouth opening slightly in what could only be shock. It would have almost been comical, had Emma not been worried about the berating she knew was about to come. The silence stretched on, until finally−and quite unexpectedly−Mary Margaret started laughing.

"For a second there, I thought you were being serious!" the brunette laughed, shaking her head at her daughter. "There's no way you're being serious, right?"

"Err, I really did invite Regina." Emma shrugged, trying to remain calm and not at all thrown off by the unexpected reaction. "Look, she's changing. Maybe we should give her more chances than we already do? It just seemed like a good idea, I mean who knows what she could get up to if we make her feel like a prisoner in her own home. I know thinks might get awkward, but really we have to work through it and, yeah."

"But Emma, you know about what happened between us! Some things can't be erased by a couple of drinks. What if something goes wrong and some sort of massacre takes place at The Rabbit Hole? And don't forget Ruby. She'll be overprotective all night."

"Please, Mary Margaret. For Henry?" Emma pleaded; knowing that using the Henry card would always work. None of them wanted to make things strained for Henry. The kid had, had to deal with that enough already, from the very moment Emma had strolled into town. "Things won't be so bad…Mom."

"You're trying to manipulate me, aren't you?" Mary Margaret sighed in defeat, shaking her head slightly. "You really have been spending too much time with Regina."

"What can I say? Her methods are pretty effective." The blonde chuckled.

"Fine then. But just know that you're responsible for anything that goes wrong."

"Naturally."

"I'll see you later then." The brunette said, retrieving her things and standing up to leave. "You really do act like the Saviour you are."

As Emma, watched her mother leave, she couldn't help but feel the smile on her face falter. When would she ever just get to be Emma, the Sheriff and new mother, not just the Saviour and Neal's fiancé? It was like constantly being held up to the standards of something, or someone, she felt she didn't deserve to be.

* * *

All in all, the conversation with Mary Margaret could have gone a lot worse. Emma was relieved that at least she hadn't needed to have what was likely to be a headache inducing conversation with David. Mary Margaret was more open to a more civil relationship, whereas David still didn't trust Regina enough. On the bright side, Mary Margaret's initial reaction had in itself been priceless and a source of amusement for Emma, in hindsight.

Even as Emma pulled her skin-tight black jeans over her hips, she still chuckled at the look of horror on her mother's face. Emma slipped on a red shirt that showed off the muscles of her arms and clung to her body in such a way that she knew looked great from past experience. It was never a shirt she wore without wanting to impress anyone although she wasn't entirely sure why she felt the need to impress, especially since she was engaged and definitely not out to impress Regina or any of the others.

She finished getting ready and made her way into the kitchen where Henry was poured over his homework on the table and Neal was sitting on the other side, attempting to help even though it was clear that Henry was more adept at algebra than his father.

"How is everything here?" Emma asked, leaning on the table next to Henry and silently enjoying the normality of the scene in front of her. This was the sort of family image that she had always grown up imagining for herself but never thought she would ever achieve. She had also imagined this very image for Henry, from the very moment she passed the tiny bundle in her arms over to be adopted, although never in her wildest dreams would she have thought herself to be in that picture. That fact that she had seemingly achieved her idealistic dreams spread a warm feeling through her, steaming from her heart and filling out the entirety of her being.

"I'm almost finished! Neal is trying to help." Henry said, glancing at his father and leaning further into Emma and lowering his voice to a hushed tone. "He's not very good."

Emma stifled a laugh as Henry rolled his eyes and Neal shot him a mock wounded look. However, Neal's resemblance to Rumplestiltskin in that moment was unavoidable and almost enough to send a shiver down Emma's spine. Pushing the unease to the back of her mind, she ruffled her son's hair.

"I better get going. You know how your mom is when I'm late. I am pretty sure that she's already cooked up some form of punishment for me after I was late earlier." Emma chuckled, earning an odd look from Neal who looked as though Regina was planning on murdering Emma in her sleep. With a shake of her head Emma rolled her eyes at the concern for her wellbeing. "She is not planning on killing me. Stop worrying, Neal."

"I can't help but always worry about both of you when you're near her. She is the Evil Queen after all." Neal said, shrugging as though the validity of his concern was obvious.

"And your father is the Dark One." Emma noted, narrowing her eyes at her fiancé. "Regina is not the same woman who cursed a realm of people all those years ago and neither is she the same woman she was when I arrived in Storybrooke. She's actually changing, Neal and if we don't encourage that, then she could revert, so don't give me that crap."

"And she's not evil anymore! She's not perfect but she's not a bad person. She loves me and she doesn't hate Ma anymore! She's really trying!" Henry added earnestly, just as he finished off the final algebra question in his homework.

Neal shook his head and looked as though he was about to protest again. Quickly, he clamped his mouth shut at the pointed look that both Emma and Henry were giving him, aware that he would never win this battle. At least not for now.

"Now I better get going! I will see both of you tomorrow morning. Goodnight Henry, Neal." With one quick kiss to Henry's head, Emma was swiftly out of the door, completely forgetting to kiss Neal goodbye in the process. Neal slumped down in his chair, the omission of the kiss adding to his nagging doubt within his gut.

* * *

The cold air sneaked its way, uninvited through Emma's coat, causing an array of goosebumps to rise on her arms as she walked up the pathway to 108 Mifflin Street. It did not take long for Regina to answer the door after a few short and purposeful raps on the wood. Emma's mind was not fully prepared for the sight that greeted her over the threshold. Regina was absentmindedly still primping her hair as she stood there, looking incredibly gorgeous in a tight black dress, killer heels and one of her red blazers over the top.

Emma had never really noticed how well Regina's clothes hugged her figure before, or never admitted it to herself at least. It was ridiculous how a woman could look so incredibly devoid of flaws. Emma was pretty sure that even if you woke up next to her in the morning that she would be one of those disgustingly irritating people who still manage to look amazingly beautiful. It was a gift that Emma herself wished that she possessed but had found herself lacking, particularly as her morning appearance looked akin to a zombie before her first cup of coffee these days.

It was only when Regina cleared her throat that Emma realised that not only had she been having thoughts about waking up beside Regina in bed, but had also been staring for the better part of two minutes as the mayor sorted out a few final things.

"Are we actually going to go and get this over with?" Regina asked, rolling her eyes, accentuated by the smoky makeup that she had used and a smirk appeared on her red painted lips. "Or are you just going to keep staring like a teenage boy, Miss Swan?"

Emma shook herself out of her daze and gave Regina a shy smile, which just furthered the teenage boy stereotype within Regina's head. The older woman shook her head at the blonde and began to strut down the pathway toward the yellow death trap that Emma still insisted on calling a car. Emma shook herself out of her less than appropriate thoughts and hurried behind her, hopping into the drivers side just as Regina slid gracefully into the passenger seat. The Mayor's face wrinkled in disgust at the lone, greasy paper bag from Granny's that must have had one of those grilled cheese sandwiches that Emma seemed to inhale rather than eat while on patrol. It was a miracle, Regina wondered as she glanced over to Emma and the rather appealing outfit that the blonde had chosen, that Emma never seemed to suffer from the amount of rubbish that she appeared to eat on a daily basis. Regina just hoped that she was at least taking greater care into what she was feeding Henry, although with Neal's influence as well, there was probably no hope for that at all.

"So, Mary Margaret almost blew a gasket when I told her that I had invited you." Emma said, trying to break the silence that was hanging between the two of them as she drove to the centre of town.

"Did you ever expect anything else, dear?" Regina retorted; smirking at the image of a horror stricken Mary Margaret finding out that her daughter had invited the Evil Queen to have drinks with them.

"I suppose not." Emma chuckled.

The rest of the car journey was spent in the silence that it had started with. Emma kept stealing glances at Regina, who looked nervous, even though she would probably never admit to it for as long as she lived. She had, had to remind herself a couple of times to keep her eyes on the road as she caught herself not so subtly staring at the way in which the street lights illuminated Regina's olive skin in the darkness of the car. It had the effect of creating a soft glow, which radiated off of Regina, as if she were an angel rather than some people's idea of the devil incarnate.

Regina on the other hand had kept a level of subtly that she was sure that Emma, with all of her Charming genes, would be incapable of. It had confused her at first when she had witnessed Emma's continual insistence of looking at her instead of the road, through the reflection that was given off by the car window. She had almost snapped at the young woman to keep her eyes to herself, before she noticed the soft and admiring look that shone in the depths of her eyes. She had not received that look in a long time, especially as it was devoid of any type of fear or hatred. It was simple, it was comforting and it was altogether too pleasant for Regina to ever admit to the woman who sat beside her.

She wondered whether she would have ever thought that a year ago, when both of them had been all too intent on proving to the other that they knew what was best for Henry and even feared each other. It probably wouldn't even have occurred as a thought. There had always been a considerable measure of mistrust and accusation in the eyes of Emma Swan whenever they had bored into her own brown eyes. However, whatever these thoughts were, they could not continue or be expressed. For one, it would be extremely embarrassing to ever admit to Emma that Regina really did appreciate the change in their relationship or the fact that her gaze was making her feel happy for once, and secondly, Emma had no business looking at anyone with those eyes in such as way other than Neal.

"Uh, Regina? We're here?" Emma said, nudging Regina in the shoulder for the second time before the other woman even noticed that she was being spoken to.

"Oh…yes, of course. Sorry." Regina murmured, trying to mask the obvious reverie that she had been broken out of, with a soft and reassuring smile.

* * *

The first two rounds of drinks had been sorely needed in order to relieve the heavy tension, which had hung in the air around the table for the first 20 minutes. Mary Margaret and Regina had spent a lot of the time either purposely avoiding each other's gaze or glaring each other down, while Ruby, Emma and Ashley looked between the two women as if watching a small scale missile crisis in the Cold War that was Regina and Snow's current relationship.

It did not take long before Ruby had promptly dragged Ashley and Mary Margaret to the dance floor, nudging Emma in the side as if telling her that entertaining Regina was her duty now. Emma just rolled her eyes at the retreating back of her friends and mother before turning back to Regina who was now twiddling the cocktail stick that was sitting in her apple martini.

"So, nice place huh?" Emma said, taking a long sip of her beer as she attempted to break Regina from her silent reverie.

"Yes, dear. Shame about the company." Regina sighed, sneering slightly at Emma from across the table. "I knew this would be a bad idea."

Emma sighed, signalling over to a young waiter who quickly returned to the women with another round of drinks. She was not sure whether the speed was due to the fact that she was the saviour or whether the boy was afraid that Regina would curse his entire family if he were too slow at retrieving the drinks. Either way, Emma had to admit that she was not about to complain.

Emma silently contemplated her drink, trying to ignore the watchful eyes from across the table.

"Why did you really invite me here, Emma?" Regina asked, leaning back slightly in her chair and regarding the pensive blonde.

"I thought you could use some time out? And Henry would want all of his family to get along better, so it seemed like a good idea." The blonde shrugged. She attempted to meet Regina's eyes, knowing that not doing so would result in further questioning from the brunette anyway.

"That's not the whole truth is it?"

_Damn it._ Emma winced slightly, mentally kicking herself for daring to believe that Regina would fall for the simple answer completely.

Quickly downing her drink, she decided to resort to the only way she knew how to change the subject that Regina would no doubt be adamant on discussing. Instead of answering the brunette, she swiftly appeared at Regina's side, grabbed her wrist and pulled her gently towards the dance floor. To her surprise, there wasn't a lot of protest from Regina, who simply and rather uncharacteristically allowed herself to be led into the throng of sweating, dancing bodies in the middle of the dance floor.

Within minutes, Emma had found herself in a position she never would have thought possible in a million years, regardless of whether there was alcohol brimming in both of their systems. Emma's hands had found there way to Regina's waist mid-song, pulling her closer so that Regina's back was pulled flush against Emma's front. Her mind was spinning, as she could smell the lingering smell of apples and spice that seemed to encompass Regina, mixed with the stench of alcohol and sweat from the surrounding patrons. It was intoxicating to say the least and Emma was glad that it was difficult to distinguish the different people within the crowd, who knew how she would explain this situation to her mother and friends.

Although at first Regina had debating removing herself from the blonde's grasp, she found herself sinking back into her dancing partner's body, enjoying the way in which their hips swayed together with the music. It was invigorating. It was enticing. It was highly inappropriate and yet Regina could not bring herself to draw away. It was probably the drink that made this seem so good, but in admittance, she had not had too much to drink, or so she thought.

The much too loud music and the cramped atmosphere didn't seem to affect the two women. Neither did they notice the many faces of disbelief as people noticed that the Saviour was dancing with the Evil Queen. They were both lost to the rhythm. To the unexpected feeling of content that washed over the two, supposedly contrasting, women. For the first time, in a very long time, Regina revelled in the feeling of safety and strength that seemed to exude from Emma's secure hold on her waist.

Just as Emma's head fell slightly to almost nuzzle into Regina's soft hair, the saner part of Regina's mind seemed to interject, causing her to draw away from Emma quickly and to spin around to face the surprised blonde. With one motion of her finger, Emma was following Regina back to their previous table, where the remnants of Regina's drink were quickly downed.

"Take me home, Sheriff." Regina stated, looking expectantly at Emma, who seemed taken aback by the sudden change in the mayor's behaviour.

"We've only been here for an hour, Regina." Emma whined, wanting nothing more than to continue drinking and dancing because then the little voice in the back of her head that was so full of doubt over the vastly approaching wedding, would disappear. Plus, she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy dancing with Regina.

"You said I could go home if I wanted to. My dear I can assure you that the awkwardness between your mother and I most certainly makes me want to go home." Regina said, crossing her arms tightly across her chest and glaring at the woman in front of her, who had let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine, but just stay here while I go and say goodbye." Emma muttered, dragging herself over to where she had seen the others dancing and throwing enquiring glances towards Emma and Regina.

* * *

It had taken some convincing and a reminder that Emma had to be a responsible adult for Henry and not kill off the only mothers he had, before Regina had finally dragged Emma into a cab to take them back to Mifflin Street. Apparently, Emma felt like she was incapable of ever making a mistake while driving under the influence and had initially wanted to drive them back herself. The journey had been quiet, with the cab driver, whom Emma had found out had spent his life in the Enchanted Forest as a horse called Maximus, shooting wary looks in his rear-view mirror at the former Queen and Emma.

Upon arrival at the house, however, Regina stopped just as she got out of the cab that was waiting expectantly to take Emma back home.

"Would you care for a drink, Miss Swan?" Regina asked, letting out a sigh, as if the mere notion appeared to cause effort for her. Emma's eyebrows shot up in surprise and suspicion. Despite all better judgement, she wordlessly paid Max the fare and followed Regina out of the cab and up to the front door of her house.

Each time Emma entered the Mills mansion, she had the feeling hat she was always adding some sort of dirt to the immaculate nature of the house. Nothing seemed out of place and the whirlwind that was Emma and her easy-going nature seemed to clash with the order with which Regina kept her house. Easily slipping her boots off, Emma turned to look at Regina who was standing on top of the stairs in the hallway.

"So Miss Swan, how would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" She asked, a smirk playing across her lips as she enjoyed the poetry of using the very words she had used on that fateful night, when Emma turned her world and her plans on their head.

"Got anything stronger?" With a small grin, Emma followed dutifully as the mayor led her across the hall and into the study.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: For once I put it at the end, so as not to spoil anything to happen in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"So are you going to tell me why you really invited me, Miss Swan?" Regina inquired, refilling Emma's empty tumbler of golden liquid.

The blonde had kept the conversation light and suspiciously far away from her motives for tonight. It was enough to make Regina wonder whether this girl really did know how to tell people were lying to her. It was quite clear that she seemed to be a terrible liar herself. It was either that or the time she was spending with her father really had made some of his stupidity rub off onto his only daughter.

Emma shifted slightly under Regina's expectant gaze as the mayor took her former seat, on the couch directly opposite Emma. She could feel the thoughts and doubts clouding in her mind again, seeming to take over all the clarity and short reprieve that she had gained in The Rabbit Hole. Something inside of her wanted to blurt out everything to her former enemy. It was probably the alcohol and the almost inviting way that the reflection of the fire flickered in Regina's eyes. It was a good thing that the woman had decided to give the blonde space, otherwise she knew that what remained of the new wall she had been enclosing herself in, would surely shatter in an instant.

"It's nothing, really Regina. Just let it go?" Emma pleaded, taking on an almost whiney tone as she struggled to hold onto the feelings that surged through her with each beat of her heart.

"No. I deserve to know. If you used me for your own gain, then I deserve to know. Isn't that one of the things that good people do?" Regina sneered. "Surely, as Snow White's daughter, you would have been constantly reminded of all the things that _good people_ do."

"Well maybe, I'm not a good person Regina? Have you ever thought of that?" the blonde snapped, downing the rest of her drink in a single gulp. She let the warm buzz gloss over her once more, soothing that nagging reminder that she was the saviour and should live up to everyone's expectations.

"Trouble in paradise, princess?"

The comment should have been biting and it should have held the air of superiority that Regina managed to hold whenever she spoke to Emma. But none of that was there, much to the surprise of both women. Instead, it came laced with a hint of worry and curiosity for the blonde Sheriff. The insufferable woman who really shouldn't even be here right now and yet here Regina was, worried for her.

"It's Neal."

Regina blinked, unsure whether she had heard correctly. She could feel rage start to build up inside of her. If that son of Rumplestiltskin had done anything to harm Henry or Emma, she would make him pay! Only for Henry's sake, of course.

"What? Did he do something? Did his father do something? If that twisted little Imp has done something that could hurt Henry…"

"Whoa, chill out! It's nothing like that. Believe me, if anything was endangering Henry I would have him stay over here in an instant. You have to trust me on that. No, this has nothing to do with anything that anyone else has done. This is all on me." Emma could feel a traitorous prickle of maddening tears start to form in her eyes. She shouldn't be telling Regina any of this. She shouldn't be feeling any of this. And yet here she was, already down a confessional path that she had no way to go back on now.

She could visibly see Regina's rage dissipate slowly as she watched Emma's efforts at remaining calm and collected in front of the mayor being to falter. However, rage was an emotion she felt she could probably deal with, coming from the other woman. Instead, she was faced with an expression of overt concern written all over Regina's face. That was something Emma didn't know how to handle in the slightest.

"What's wrong, Emma? What does this have to do with me?" Regina implored. She got off of her seat, slowly and carefully approaching Emma, as if she was a deer that would easily flee at any sign of sudden movement.

In a confusing display of concern, Regina sat herself next to the troubled blonde and placed a steady and reassuring hand on her knee. Emma looked up into the brown eyes, which were staring intently at her. Realising that perhaps, by some weird twist of fate, that the mayor could be the only person willing to listen to Emma's current issues. It was probably the fact that they were both slightly tipsy, but there was no need to take that as a sign that she should keep her mouth shut. If Emma didn't say anything now, she knew that she never would get this opportunity again.

"I didn't want the others discussing the wedding. I just, I'm sick of all this wedding stuff." Emma shrugged. "My mom…she never shuts up about it. What dress I'm going to wear. How I'm going to have my hair. The goddamn flowers and even the goddamn feeling of happiness that she presumes I'm going to have. Like it's some sort of sick fairytale!"

"Well dear, it kind of is a sick fairytale. You do remember who your mother is, don't you?"

Emma grimaced. Wishing beyond anything; not for the first time, that her mother was not Snow White and that this was just a normal town. She just wanted things to be normal, especially if she wasn't at all sure whether she even wanted the wedding in the first place. It was infuriating to say the very least.

"Well, I think you probably know better than anyone how excited she gets about weddings. Especially, when not every person involved is as thrilled about the wedding as she is."

Red painted lips pursed into a thin line; the brunette being forced back into memories of a time when a young Snow White had gushed over her wedding dress. It appeared as though old habits did indeed die-hard for the infuriating woman. At least in this instance, Emma did not seem to be completely unwilling to marry Neal, unlike when Regina had been forced to marry that neglectful and spineless, old king.

"Yes. Indeed I do, Miss Swan."

"For Christ's sake Regina, call me Emma would you?"

The former Queen rolled her eyes at the young woman sitting before her. There was something that Emma was still not telling her and she could see it written all over the blonde's face. There was a sadness that went far beyond the annoying behaviour of her mother and a confusion that Regina could feel surrounding her.

"Emma…what else is going on?"

"I don't know if I want to marry Neal. I feel like I should because I'm the saviour and I would be giving Henry his happy ending. I'd be giving him a family. I thought it would get easier. I thought I could get myself to love Neal again, in the same way I used to. But I can't Regina, I just can't!"

And there it was. The secret that Emma had kept closely to her chest for the past few weeks was now out in the open. She tried to gauge Regina's reaction, however the older woman's face just seemed to remain stoic as she digested this new piece of information.

The silence in the room seemed to last for an eternity. Emma fidgeted in her seat, trying to shake off the inquisitive stare that was receiving, as well as the sheer weight of the implications her confession now held. She couldn't ignore it anymore. Not when it was an issue that no longer solely resided in the deep recessions of her mind. She was going to have to force herself to deal with it.

She could feel the tears then. The silent tears that fell from her eyes and slipped gracefully down soft, pale skin. These tears were probably a long time coming, however it did not make their presence any more welcome. This was not how Emma had wanted to spend her night and if she had told herself a year ago, that she would have allowed herself to show this level of weakness in front of the closest thing to an enemy she had, well she would have laughed in her own face. Emma closed her eyes tightly, willing the tears to stop and for the clock to just rewind so that she could avoid all of this personal and serious conversation with Regina Mills.

Suddenly, she felt the pressure of soft hands cupping her face. The pads of thumbs were being smoothed across her cheeks, wiping away the traitorous tears that still fell from her closed eyes.

Green eyes blinked open, gazing at the woman in front of her with confusion and interest. Regina was smiling sadly, her face closer to Emma's than the blonde had remembered it being before she had closed herself off from the real world for those moments of darkness. Their shallow breaths mingled in the small space between parted lips, the distance lessening without much knowledge of either woman.

Slowly, Regina brushed her lips against the blonde's in a tentative kiss. It must have been down to all the alcohol; Emma tried to reason with herself, as she found herself responding almost instantly to the kiss.

Her hands quickly found their way in a path down to Regina's waist, pulling the older woman closer to her as the kiss deepened. A soft moan escaped pink lips, as Regina swiftly ran her tongue across the blonde's lower lip, begging for entrance to her mouth, which was granted without any hesitation.

There was something about the way that their tongues met, neither fully in battle nor completely soothing, which had Emma's head spinning. This shouldn't feel this good. It shouldn't feel as though everything was right with the world and it definitely shouldn't have been happening between a betrothed woman and her former-enemy.

Regina nipped Emma's swollen bottom lip, her hands tracing patterns down the blonde's neck and collarbone. There was definitely no going back from this now, as she started an assault of nips and licks, trailing along Emma's jaw and down her neck. The world was too busy spinning and the Sheriff was too busy trying to concentrate on the exquisite feeling of Regina's tongue and lips on her sensitive skin.

"Regina…" The mayor's name rolling off of the blonde's lips in a moan as the older woman started work on her pulse point. She bit down hard on the spot before consciously smoothing over the skin carefully. Marking the younger woman at this point would be unwise, after all. Although, Regina made sure not to remind herself of the exact reason why this was so, instead choosing to straddle Emma in order to bring the woman closer to her.

Fingers curled into soft and dark hair, as Emma's held Regina's closer to her, urging her to continue causing the sensations that spread throughout the blonde's body. It was as if she had been waiting for this moment for far too long and in truth, she probably had been.

She would be lying if she had said that thoughts of Regina and her had never once entered her mind. None of those hastily forgotten fantasies had prepared her for the emotions she was feeling at that moment. Especially, not as Regina's hands fell to caress Emma's covered breasts.

The contact was enough for Emma to feel trapped by the offending pieces of clothing that stood in her way of truly appreciating the woman who was driving her crazy. Emma placed her hands on Regina's thighs on either side of her, running her hands over the exposed flesh, pushing the black dress further up and out of the way.

"This really needs to go." Regina whispered into Emma's ear as she began tugging at the bottom of the red shirt.

Within moments, the shirt lay discarded on the floor beside them, Regina's attentions returning once more to still encased breasts. She lowered her head, kissing and nibbling at the right nipple through the irritating black fabric of Emma's bra. The sensation still managed to stimulate a deep moan, Emma's hips instantly jerking up to grind against the dampening fabric of Regina's underwear.

With a small smirk playing on her lips, Regina began to mirror the blonde's sudden movements, grinding herself on Emma's lap. Emma's nails dug slightly into the older woman's thighs, urging her movements as she met them with her own, despite the maddening amount of clothes that barred her from feeling all of the sensations she was currently craving.

As if sensing, the blonde's need, Regina deftly unbuttoned the skin-tight jeans that stood in the way. She leaned back up, nipping Emma's bottom lip before snaking her hand down the front of the blonde's jeans, deciding that there was no room for teasing the girl as her own need to finally feel the blonde heightened.

Nimble fingers were finally met with the slick, wetness of Emma's folds as they explored beneath the blonde's underwear. Just the knowledge that Emma was reacting to her in this way cause Regina to give out an appreciative moan as she slipped her fingers further down her slit.

She closed her eyes and revelled in the feeling of Emma's wetness, slipping her fingers back up and using her thumb to rub circles on the blonde's swollen clit. However, the choked sob that escaped with the moan from the parted lips of her new lover ripped her out of her contented state.

Opening her eyes, her heart broke at the sudden fear and confusion that was painted all over Emma's face. Tears were once again welling up behind green and glassy eyes, falling down the already tear stained cheeks. Reluctantly, Regina withdrew her hand from inside of Emma's pants, placing both hands on the couch, behind either side of Emma's head.

"Did I do something wrong?" Regina asked, wishing desperately that the expressions flittering across Emma's face would just disappear and that they could resume whatever had been happening between them. For the first time in a long time, the brunette had felt safe and content in a way she had never thought possibly ever again. She longed for that moment again, but she also knew that Emma's confusion from earlier had probably increased dramatically since this whole night began.

"I…I can't do this. I shouldn't be doing this to Neal. I shouldn't be doing this to Henry, or my family." Came the stuttered reply, the tears now flowing freely down the blonde's cheeks.

Regina swiftly got off of the blonde, allowing her room to get up and move. Dejectedly, she watched from her seat as the blonde hastily stood up and re-buttoned her jeans before beginning her search for the discarded red shirt. Her blonde hair was far messier than it had been before Regina had kissed her, and she was muttering the word 'stupid' rapidly under her breath.

"I'm sorry Regina…I have to go." Emma said, pulling the red shirt she had just retrieved over her head and grabbing the other stuff she had taken out with her.

"Emma…"

"I'll talk to you soon, okay?" The blonde finally looking up and making eye contact with the mayor, who still wore that concerned look on her face with the reminisce of the lust that had consumed her, just moments before, still lingering in her large brown eyes.

With a quick nod of the head, Emma all but sprinted out of the study, leaving Regina sitting with her mussed hair and ridden up dress in the now empty room. The brunette sighed heavily, trying to regain the control she had quite clearly lost upon seeing the Sheriff obvious distress at her wedding. She tried to keep herself steady and her thoughts in check. She had no idea what had possessed her. Why would she kiss, Miss Swan? Sure, she didn't want to see the young woman upset, which was nonetheless a confusing notion for her, but to want to kiss her and…have sex with her?

It had to have been the alcohol. That was Regina's only solution to this conundrum. She had, had too much, they had danced together and Emma has opened up to her. That was it. It was just something that would happen in the moment and never again.

With this in mind, Regina busied herself with putting the tumblers of cider away and trudging her way upstairs. She would sleep the alcohol off and surely once she awoke, she would no longer have the taste of Emma on her tongue and her intoxicating smell clouding her judgement.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Emma to run through the streets of Storybrooke, to get back to her apartment that she and her small, Neal and Henry sized family lived in. Also, fortunately for her, the streets had been empty and so there had been no one to question the stricken Sheriff about what had happened to her. She was barely sure whether she could come up with a suitable enough lie, her brain was that much out of control at that moment.

She was grateful upon entering the apartment to find that the lights were off, signalling that everyone was tucked soundly in bed. The clock above the kitchen counter told her that it was just turning to 1am, a suitable enough time for her to come back from the girl's night out without much questioning from Neal.

Suddenly feeling the need for a drink, she quietly tiptoed her way to the fridge, in order to avoid any pesky creaking floorboards that might bring either of the boys into the room. She was in no mood for conversation tonight, not even with Henry. Feeling relieved that she had bought a carton of orange juice the day before; she gulped the liquid straight from the carton, enjoying the refreshing way that it slipped down her throat. More importantly, it had managed to dispel most of the taste of cider and apples that Regina has engulfed all of her taste buds in. There was no way she could forget about what had happened if she could still feel the way Regina's tongue had slipped easily against her. Or how she wished Regina's tongue had explored other places…_damn it!_

Violently breaking out of her thoughts, she managed to knock over an apple - go figure - from the fruit basket. She winced at the heavy sound of the fruit colliding with the floorboards and held in a baited breath as she waited for the attention that was surely going to be drawn towards her.

Sure enough, within moments, she saw Neal begin to pad his way slowly down the stairs, a grin firmly fixed in place.

"I was wondering when you'd be home. Good night?" he asked, making his way over to his fiancée and wrapping his arms around her.

"Eh, it was alright I guess?" Emma said, trying to remain calm as she hoped beyond hope that Neal would not be able to smell the apple scent that she knew must have rubbed off on her in some way.

"Missed me too much then?" He chuckled, earning a light-hearted eye roll from the woman encircled in his arms.

"Yes, that is what is must have been."

"Well, now that you're back…do you want to _go to bed_?" Neal asked, the hopeful tone in his voice not at all lost on Emma.

Instead of answering him properly, she leant up and kissed him, allowing for the kiss to deepen when Neal hungrily responded. They hadn't done anything more than share small kisses here and there for the past couple of days and Emma knew that he had been craving more than just the excuses as to why they couldn't do anything further than that.

In truth, Emma just hadn't felt like she wanted Neal to touch her and if she was being totally honest with herself, she didn't really want him now. But each time she felt his hand roam to a different part of her body, the image of Regina, eyes closed and her face filled with pleasure as she had felt just how aroused Emma had been.

She needed to get the images out of her head and she needed to get them out quickly before they drove her insane. So she let Neal lead her upstairs and she tried to put all of her previous enthusiasm into what should have been a magical night of her making love with her fiancé. But she found that despite her best efforts, nothing seemed to work; as when she closed her eyes to drift off to sleep, nestled in the arms of the man she should be in love with, all she could see was the brown eyes and salacious smirk of one Regina Mills.

* * *

**A/N: ****So I may or may not have finally proven why I gave this fic an M rating ;) I've run out of chapters that I've already drafted, so I shall try and get the next updates up weekly, but if I fail just know I'm at least beating myself up about about my writer's block. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please bare in mind that this is the first thing I've written that didn't annoyingly skip the smut, so any constructive criticisms are forever welcome! **

******Thank you all for the reviews, follows and favourites so far! I never expected to get this great of a response to this fic, so thank you all for making this timid writer proud! And I know the Neal road is a long and painful one to go down...but trust me when I say I will make it all better at some point or other. ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello everybody! I know, I know, I was later with the update than I said I would be, but the evil of writer's block decided to present itself. I hope this turned out okay for everyone. Also I feel bad for this, but I am going to be away for a week, starting from Tuesday and my birthday is right after that. I will be attempting to do some writing while I'm away so I should just need to type up the next chapter, but this is just a warning in case you start to wonder where I've gotten to. :') Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

The meek morning light that crept through the curtains distracted Regina from her thoughts. She had spent the entire night much like this, lying in bed and trying to sort through the mix of emotions that engulfed her since Emma had left. The maddening green eyes and infuriatingly golden hair of the woman had been the star of every fitful bout of sleep.

Each dream had been similar to the last. Emma would be kissing her in that intoxicating way that had caused Regina to want everything from the woman she was never supposed to even like. She had not felt this happy in a long time, with Emma whispering in her ear as her hands moved in a trail that blazed across olive skin. Nothing else mattered, not as long as Emma was there with her and they were both mesmerised with each other.

The dreams were undoubtedly perfect, until suddenly Neal would appear. He would stand in the doorway of the study, his mouth agape and pain written all over his face. Regina could really care less about Neal at the best of times, but even she could not deny that the man's expression of betrayal mirrored that of all of her previous victims. Their eyes would widen in shock as she invaded their chest, clenching around their heart and wrenching the beating organ out of their unwilling body. The memory of it made her physically sick. And that is what would happen if her and Emma ever let themselves give into what had caused last night to happen.

There was no way that she would allow herself to cause that pain ever again. The satisfaction of the kill would never compare to the love of her child and surely, Henry would despise her for ruining his chance at having a family with his biological parents. Emma's part in all of this would surely not matter to the others. Her parents would make sure of that. No, Regina was sure that she would be made an example of if ever her and Emma gave into this, whatever this indeed was.

It should never happen again. It would never happen again. No matter how much the nagging feeling in the pit of Regina's stomach protested, she would not give into her lust for Miss Swan. That was all it was. There was no possible way that it could be more than that. She refused to be made into the villain that the inhabitants of Storybrooke still thought her to be.

Begrudgingly, she dragged herself out of bed and into her ensuite, deciding that this foolishness would not be allowed to disturb her whole day. She needed to get things ready for when Henry was due to come round that evening, not that she needed much preparation. She had after all had Henry living solely under her roof for the best part of 11 years before the curse had broken. Still, she wanted everything to be perfect.

As much as she hated it, she knew that she had to make more of an effort than Emma needed to. Henry had so willingly and unconditionally offered his love to the woman who had given birth to him and that knowledge still had the power to tear Regina apart. No matter how things had changed, she knew that one slip up and all of the shared custody arrangements and all of the warm hugs and smiles Henry now offered her would be gone in a moment. It was something she would have to continually remind herself now that the previous night's events had transpired.

However, as Regina stared at her reflection in the mirror she couldn't help but give into the corner of her mind that she had persuaded everyone had been long dead. It was that corner that had fallen in love with Daniel. The part of her that had dreamed of a future where the only thing that mattered was love and family, where power, status and feuds didn't matter to her. But now, things were different. Instead of seeing Daniel, there stood Emma and Henry. The idea of family beckoned to Regina like a long-lost friend, but like so many of her friends, she knew she could not fully count of the support of this dream. The complications were numerous and the chances getting slimmer with every day that passed by.

No. This was where these thoughts would end. So Regina closed her eyes tightly, willing the fantasies of her happily ever after out of her head. Her carefully constructed walls and mask were back in place and nothing was gong to let them break. With a final resigned sigh, Regina carried on her preparations for the day ahead, putting all inappropriate thoughts of Emma to the back of her mind; hopefully never to be contemplated again.

* * *

Ten am was definitely _not_ the right time to dip into the secret bottle of tequila that Emma had stored under the sink. Goodness knows she could use a shot, though. The blonde had woken up eventually, Neal's arms wrapped tightly around her, constricting all possible movements. It was a bit disorientating, waking up in the arms of someone, when someone else had filled all of your dreams.

The tiny pit of regret that churned within Emma's stomach had been growing by each passing second spent in Neal's arms. His touch was not delicate enough, his eyes holding all the emotions of a loyal puppy dog. It was something familiar, but Emma couldn't help but wonder what things would be like if they were to change. If she found herself waking up in an embrace with someone else…someone less predictable.

These thoughts still persisted, even by the time Emma had wriggled herself free and fled to the kitchen. Now she found herself staring into space while nursing a cup of coffee in the kitchen, her mind deeply immersed in the memories and thoughts plaguing her mind. There was almost an endless supply of 'what ifs' that had been playing through her subconscious all night. She would be lying to herself if she said she had been surprised by her actions, or by Regina's actions. Something had just felt right and that was something that she just didn't want to delve into them now. She doubted she could handle it, especially not with her fiancé getting ready upstairs and Henry packing a small bag to take to his mom's house. Those thoughts could really only be entertained after some drinks or maybe several bottles.

"Emma!" Henry suddenly shouted from his room.

Jolted by the sudden noise, Emma managed to drop her mug of coffee. The ceramic hit the floor with a crack, shattering the mug and spilling the contents all across the tiles. As if she didn't have anything else to worry about, she now had to deal with the mess that was mocking her from the ground. It was apparently going to be one of those days.

Warily, she stood up and went upstairs to where Henry's room was situated. It surely should not be possible for the kid to shout so loudly, but apparently he was still full of surprises. Emma was sure that she would have to nip that habit in the bud before he accidentally pulled that crap with Regina, who would surely place sole blame for this behaviour on either Emma or Neal. It was an argument that the blonde just couldn't be bothered to have.

Finally reaching the door to her son's room, she slowly pushed it open, not knowing what mess she might meet upon opening the door. Now being a boy of 13 and apparently taking advantage of the more laid-back approach to parenting that Emma and Neal had taken, his room had taken on the appearance of a dump. There were too many times where Emma had attempted to get to the other side of the room, only to stub her toe on an action figure, or even that goddamn infamous book that had changed everything.

The fact that Henry was unceremoniously flinging clothes around his room, not caring where they landed in the mess, really demonstrated just how much Emma needed to tighten up the rules in this place. Having to tidy up the clothes that her and Neal seemed incapable of putting away was one thing, but when it extended to Henry too it was just downright exhausting.

"Hey kid, what did those clothes do to you?" Emma drawled, leaning against the doorframe and surveying the mania before her. The comment, however, earnt her a swift eye-roll from Henry that always perfectly mirrored his other mother.

"I can't find my Captain America t-shirt! Have you seen it?"

"Is that all? You made me drop my coffee because you couldn't find your t-shirt?"

"Err, yes." Henry scoffed.

"Listen kid, you can't just go shouting the house down for me to come find your t-shirts. It's not polite! And you know how much your mother would kill me for encouraging that sort of thing. So here's the thing, next time you leave a shirt at your mom's and can't find it here, just drag your lazy ass downstairs and ask. Do you understand?"

Thankfully, Henry did have the decency to look a bit sheepish. It wasn't every day that Emma told him off, even if it was never ever to the level that Regina would chastise him. The young teenager nodded solemnly before sending Emma an apologetic smile.

"So, I left it at mom's?"

Shaking her head affectionately at her son, Emma strode forward into the danger zone and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah kid, you did." She replies, watching, as Henry seemed to be considering something.

"So…how was last night? With mom and the others? Did anything happen?"

Green eyes widened quickly before Emma could even try and school her features. The first image that popped into her mind was that of Regina's satisfied face as her hand… No.

"Err it was alright. Nothing too drastic happened but it wasn't exactly an easy atmosphere, if that makes sense?" Forcing herself to think only of the events of last night that had occurred prior to Regina kissing her.

"So in a word?" Henry asked with the worry laced in every word and etched onto his young face.

"Tense…but not a disaster."

"That's more than one word, Emma."

"Oi Henry, would you quit acting like your mother? It's starting to creep me out!"

"Starting to? It's been creeping me out for a year." Neal chuckled, who had suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Next thing you know, you'll be cursing entire lands."

"Neal!" Mother and son hissed in unison. Both of them sending identical, exasperated glares at the man who always knew how to hit the wrong buttons when it came to Regina.

"What? It's a joke! I know you would never do that, you're nothing like…"

"Finish that sentence and I will have to hit you over the head!" Emma growled warningly.

"Calm down Emma! Since when do you care so much about Regina?"

"She's Henry's mother! You have got to stop being so damn careless! What if she heard you, huh? We don't need to give her reasons to stop trying and we really shouldn't be constantly having this conversation."

For the second time in two days, Neal adopted the expression of a dog that had just been told off for stealing food. It was infuriating and Emma didn't have the patience to deal with his stupid comments when it came to Regina. She was getting tired of it from everybody. The Regina who had listened attentively to her the night before and poured all of her heart and soul into a kiss was not the Regina that everyone else saw. They didn't even bother to try to see it and it was irritating as hell now that Emma had caught more of a glimpse behind those walls.

"Emma, I just came to say that your mother is waiting for you downstairs, so you can discuss wedding stuff. You go and I'll help Henry pack." Neal said, shuffling under the glares that both his son and fiancée were giving him.

Perfect, it really was one of those days. Emma had no desire to discuss the wedding today but at least it would give her a break from dealing with Neal. She didn't know which feeling was more prevalent when she looked at him right now, annoyance or guilt. But then again, neither of those would be a good basis to discuss a wedding with. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

After three hours of nothing but conversation over colour schemes and flowers, Emma's felt like it was about to explode. There was only so much she could take when it came to the mundane wedding organisation. It was definitely not something that she had ever imagined herself having to do, especially to the extent that she was now.

Despite her arguments, Mary Margaret, David and even Mr Gold had insisted that the wedding be a magnificent and perfect affair. Gold had said something about making up for lost time with his son, but Emma thought it was just something to keep everyone off of his back in the future. He was a sneaky little imp and no matter how much Belle claimed that he had indeed changed, no one was entirely trusting of the man.

It would be okay if Neal was at all interested in the plans, but he seemed to hold as much interest in these small details as Emma did. However, he had used the pitiful excuse that apparently it was 'woman's work' to organise the wedding. If Mary Margaret had not quickly interjected with a great deal of enthusiasm to help Emma sort out everything, she was sure that she would have punched Neal squarely in the face. You would think that having escaped from the practically Medieval Enchanted Forest so long ago, that he would have managed to leave those sexist beliefs behind. Apparently, that was not the case.

The headache that such discussions and memories brought on was enough to make Emma need a few good drinks. However, she would just have to settle with taking a break to take Henry to Regina's for the week and despite everything that had happened, she was actually looking forward to it.

Regina seemed to understand what it was like, to be involved in a wedding that wasn't entirely what she wanted, if at all. In fact, Emma had a pretty good idea as to the exact cause of this understanding, but it was definitely not a subject that either woman would be comfortable having with each other. Not now, at least. Either way, the two of them understood each other in some respects and regardless of whatever awkwardness might befall them in the current circumstances; it wasn't something that Emma wanted to let go of.

"Emma, what are you doing? We need to go!" Henry called, waving a hand before his birth mother's face as she stared blankly into the distance.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry kid, I zoned out a bit there." The blonde moved to grab the keys to her yellow bug off of the counter. Checking around quickly to make sure that Henry's bag was in the car and nothing vital had been left behind, she led her son out of the front door.

"At least you weren't driving." Henry muttered, following Emma to the car, an odd sort of spring in his step that he had started adopting whenever moving between the two sides of his family.

The kid had definitely gotten used to the idea of moving between both houses. The idea of never having to feel bad for neglecting one of his mothers had lifted a burden from his shoulders. It was like he could finally see a future where he didn't have to act as the buffer zone between two warring sides.

It was this future that Emma really didn't want to take away from him. He had been so happy with the arrangement; his mother and Emma and Neal, which Emma didn't want to disrupt. She couldn't take away the smile from her son's face when he was finally content. She would be happy if he was happy and that's all that mattered to her for now.

Within just a few minutes, Emma had pulled up outside the mayoral mansion; the sudden urge to run threatening to consume her. Totally oblivious to the fact that Emma has dramatically stiffened in her seat, Henry bounded out of the car, dragging his bag behind him up the path towards the door.

Steeling herself, Emma allowed herself to get out of the car, following up the path to the now wide open door, where Regina was hugging Henry so tightly that it almost seemed like they hadn't seen each other for years. Just as the blonde neared the steps, Regina's eyes shot up and bored into her own. There was a definite look of indecision and what seemed to almost be fear in her dark brown eyes, before it quickly disappeared, leaving a decidedly detached and professional look instead. The brunette dragged her eyes away from Emma's and smiled warmly at Henry.

"Can you give us a minute, dear? I need to talk to Miss Swan about something." Regina asked, smoothing down any hair that had been ruffled upon her son's head.

"Emma. She prefers it when you call her Emma." Came the innocent response, before Henry rushed up the stairs, no doubt to check whether his Captain America shirt was indeed in his room here.

With the kid gone, both women openly stared at each other, trying to gauge just how the other was feeling. The intense stare that Regina was giving her made Emma uncomfortable. She had always felt uncomfortable under scrutinising gazes and this time was certainly no different. The blonde shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, shifting slightly from foot to foot.

"Emma…I'm sorry."

The apology was choked; entirely against Regina's own wishes but just looking at the woman in front of her brought back all of the feelings she had tried to push aside. The sad look that she had seen last night was still there and in full force. It was the look that Regina found herself oddly wanting to protect the blonde from. It had probably been gratitude, the mayor noted, that this woman had stopped listening to her parents and had allowed Regina back into her son's life. In that one action, she had reached out a hand to Regina in a way that no one else had done and it had shocked her. It had shocked her in a way that forced her to do the same. She had always had a way of noticing a desperate soul, as that was all she had been for most of her life.

"It's okay. It's just…we need to sort this out. We were drunk; we're both feeling lost…it just felt right in that moment. But…"

"We have to think of Henry." Regina finished, knowing fully well what the blonde was about to say.

"Yeah." The blonde affirmed, shrugging slightly. "It's crazy anyway right? I mean it's us! It's…it's insane!"

"Yes dear, but weirder things have happened."

"Like you turning out to be the Evil Queen and Mary Margaret being the mother I thought I would never get to meet?" Emma chuckled, trying to lighten the mood and return back to the normal banter that felt so safe and easy when it came to them.

"Yes, or you marrying Rumplestiltskin's son." The mayor smiled wryly.

"Uh yeah, or that." Taking a deep sigh, Emma began to take a step back, retreating back to the safety of her yellow bug before anything else was said. "So, I guess that I'll see you around, Madame Mayor?"

"Yes, I guess you shall. Goodbye Sheriff."

Regina watched as Emma flashed her a weak smile, before swiftly turning on her heel and leaving the Mayor and her son behind. Just one day, Regina thought, things might stop being so complicated and all of them could comfortably get on with their lives without having to feel that weight of sadness. One day.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: There are no words for how sorry I am that this update took so long to write. Being busy plus recent Comic Con disasters have meant the creative juices have been a bit lacking, but really that's no excuse. So to make up for it, here is the longest chapter yet! I hope that I am dealing with the subject of this fic well enough, although I suppose only time will tell how well I actually pull it off when things get...messy. For now though, I hope you enjoy this chapter and aren't too mad at me for not updating sooner! Also, if anyone wants to discuss anything with me or pester me for updates in the future, my tumblr and twitter are both under the name RegalSaviour, so feel free to stop by!**

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1. Nothing has changed, I still don't own OUAT.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

There was no greater torment for Emma than being left with her own thoughts for too long. She had foolishly let down all of her previous walls, allowing for self-reflection to happen far too often for her liking. Usually, the trivial things, such as whether she had forgotten to puck up the food and the like, wouldn't bother her. However, this constant doubt and the Regina issue seemed to be screaming at her from their permanent residence at the back of her mind.

Such thoughts were especially not welcome when she had a pile of paperwork that should have been completed two days previously and the increasingly annoying badgering from a very bored Captain Hook. Surely she should not be punished when it was the slimy pirate who was currently incarcerated for getting into a fight outside The Rabbit Hole. There was only so much Emma could deal with in a day and the incessant stream of conversation laced with innuendo was not what she needed.

"Lass, I don't know why you insist on keeping me here. I am harmless!' Hook said, waving around his left arm to demonstrate the loss of his weapon of choice. "You made sure of that."

"I swear to God, if you do not shut up right now, I am going to shove my pen through your eye." Grumbled the blonde, refusing to look up from her papers. Regina was going to kill her already; she didn't need to have to file paperwork on her blatant assault on the pirate that seemed inevitable right now.

"Well love, aren't you the charming one."

"All day, everyday." Emma muttered, trying so desperately to concentrate on the words in front of her as opposed to the distracting pirate or the _very_ distracting greater issue at hand.

Thankfully, the small amount of banter had seemed to sate the pirate's current bout of boredom, allowing Emma to at least attempt to push Regina and Neal's faces out of her mind while she worked. Times like this, she wished that she hadn't eaten all of the bear claws that she had stored in the station. The sugary goodness of her favourite pastry always had the ability to make everything better. If you can't get rid of your problems, at least have a bit of a delicious break from them.

Emma knew that she was perhaps reverting back to old habits; running away from things instead of dealing with them, but it was so hard. The more she thought about Regina, the more she asked herself exactly why she was with Neal. She wasn't as happy as everyone expected her to be and so surely that must mean something? But on the other hand, she had only just found her family in relative terms. She didn't want to lose that and leaving Neal, especially if anyone found out about what had happened with Regina, would definitely make things rockier than they were currently.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Emma practically threw her pen onto the desk, stretching out her limbs as though the action would expel her problems. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine a far away place where no one knew her name and she could pass through life undetected and untroubled. She would never ever want to leave Henry like that, but she couldn't deny that the old comfort of running away wasn't tempting.

Slowly opening her eyes, her utopia was ruined by the sight of Hook, leaning against the bars and smirking at her. She just couldn't wait until she could get through his necessary paperwork for his battery charges and then release him into Storybrooke to cause trouble somewhere other than in her workplace.

"What's your problem, Hook?"

"Nothing Swan, but alas I do not think you could say the same about you." Hook suggested, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "Tell me lass, what seems to be bothering you?"

"A troublesome asshole that doesn't know what to shut up." The blonde muttered bitterly, tiring quickly of Hook and his conversation. However, if both him and Regina could see that something was on her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if anyone else could see that something was troubling her.

"Ah yes, how is your fiancé doing?"

"That's not who I meant and you know it!"

"No need to get defensive, lass. It was only a joke. Stormy waters then I take it?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I think you might have been in that jail cell for too long if you're coming out with utter crap now."

"Yes I have spent quite some time in this cage, but for all of the time I have been cooped up in here, you have seemed quite distracted. I may not have known you for a long time but you are still somewhat of an open book. Something is troubling you and since you seemingly have a good life, the only causes of such distress could only be either Baelfire or our dear Queen Regina. So tell me Swan, which one is it? Or is it both?"

As if someone had physically blocked all thought from passing through Emma's brain, no witty retort would surface itself. Instead, she sat and stared at Hook, her mouth parted in utter disbelief at the astuteness of the captain. It was insane that of the very small number of people who could accurately read Emma, which this infernal man had to be one of them.

Just as all productivity seemed to return to her mind, the shrill ring of her phone tore her attention away from the captain, whose smirk seemed to have broadened with each passing moment of silence from the Sheriff.

"Hello, Sheriff's Station." Emma greeted, sending a pointed glare at Hook who merely laughed at her.

"Emma, you need to come down to the school." Mary Margaret blurted out, sounding decidedly harried.

"Woah, what's wrong?" There had to be something going on if her mother had not greeted her with the usual small talk that she liked to start their conversations off with. This felt more like when they had simply been roommates and Mary Margaret had been stressing out about everything and anything.

"Henry has gotten into a bit of trouble. I already called Regina and Neal, I didn't know if you'd be doing your paperwork at the apartment or not so I called there first. Like I explained to Regina, you'll have to come down. I've already called your father to look after Hook at the station."

"You're worrying me! What's happened?!"

"Look it's nothing serious! Well he isn't hurt or anything, but I don't think you'll like it."

Feeling quite panicked and confused at this point, Emma assured her mother that she would be at the school quickly and promptly hung up the phone. Shooting a finale glare at Hook, who looked every bit as confused as she felt, she grabbed her leather jacket off of her chair and hurried to her yellow bug outside.

* * *

"Snow, next time you deem is necessary to make calls about my son, could you make sure you do not make it sound like he is being murdered in the future? I can assure you dear, if it happens again, you might just find yourself being the one who has actually been murdered!"

_Typical. _Emma thought as she rounded the corner into the hallway outside of the office that Mary Margaret currently resided in as the school's principle, finally finding her mother standing with a very irritated Regina and an awkward Neal. At least Regina's current grievances seemed to suggest that it truly had not been as serious as Mary Margaret's phone call had suggested. Especially considering that Regina's habit of calling her Snow usually only occurred when she was extremely exasperated with the woman.

"Babe, you're here!" Neal greeted, looking extremely relieved to see Emma arrive finally.

"Yes, how nice of you to join us, Miss Swan." Drawled the Mayor.

Although still looking extremely irritated, Emma couldn't help but notice the fact that Regina's olive skin had paled slightly at the term of endearment that Neal had used for his fiancé. The change, although almost unnoticeable, was backed up by the pointed and slightly hurt look that the blonde received. It was enough to remind her of the secrets of that night and finally brought the very real dilemma of the fact that Emma had cheated on Neal with the very woman who was standing in front of him now. _Oh hell!_

Gulping slightly at the tension that flitted between herself and Regina in that moment, the blonde turned her attentions to her mother, who was rolling her eyes at her former nemesis.

"So, what the hell is going on here?" Emma asked, resenting the fact that she seemed to be the only person who did not know what was actually going on.

"Well, perhaps we should discuss this inside. Henry is waiting in there for you."

The three parents followed as Mary Margaret led the way into her office, where a very sheepish Henry sat on one of three chairs in front of the large desk. Without a word, Emma sat down on her son's right, while Regina glared at Neal who looked as though he was about to sit down in the last remaining chair.

Neal looked to Emma as if to question whether he should try and argue for the seat he felt he should have, but instead he received a shrug in return. It was no secret to any of them that Regina had barely gotten used to the idea of Neal being a prominent part in Henry's life now. However, Emma could not deny that although he was their son, had this situation not been tainted with fairytales, it was unlikely that either of them would be in Henry's life. He was Regina's son as well and Neal had yet to learn to respect that.

Defeated; Neal turned to lean against the back wall. This dynamic did not go unnoticed by Regina or Mary Margaret, however while Regina gave a small smile in thanks, her mother seemed far more confused.

Deciding to ignore the strange shift in parental dynamics, Emma turned towards Henry, who looked as though he would rather be anywhere but here. It was definitely not a situation that any kid would appreciate. These sorts of things were bad enough with one or two parents, let alone three of them and your grandmother, all of whom have their attention pinned to you.

"Hi, Ma." Henry said quietly, smiling innocently as though to alleviate the tension of this exchange.

"So…what are we here for, kid?" Emma asked, trying her best to keep to how she thought she should act in this situation. Stern but fair; none of this easy going stuff that she had been able to use up until this point. To say she was unpractised in dealing in correctly disciplining was an understatement. She had spent most of her childhood being disciplined in harsh ways that she knew would never get them anywhere.

"T-they caught me cutting class again." Henry mumbled, his eyes quickly averting from the gaze that his birth mother had on him.

"It's the fourth time in the past two weeks." Mary Margaret offered.

"What? Henry, I thought we were over this! School is too important for you to keep skipping lessons!" Regina's eyes blazed with frustration, the news what her son was still keeping to old habits worrying her deeply.

"Kid, what are you even skipping them for? I thought you had friends now? I thought you enjoyed school."

"Ladies, kids will be kids. I'm sure you won't do it again, right buddy?" Neal shrugged, moving away from the wall and placing a hand on Henry's shoulder. It was probably the worst thing he could have said in that moment. Emma risked a glance at Regina, whose jaw seemed to have set and the vein in her forehead was once again prominent.

She stood up silently, turning to face Neal at her full height. This was a woman asserting her power, in a way that both Mary Margaret and Emma had witnessed first hand. Whatever was about to happen would not be good.

"I know that you spent a lot of time in Neverland and running from daddy dearest, but contrary to what you seem to believe is acceptable, children need discipline. While you were off doing God knows what, I have been raising Henry for all of his life and how dare you try and undermine me."

"I didn't even know he existed, Regina! And I am trying to make up for that. I am just as much his parent as you are!"

"Yes and you didn't know he existed because you left Miss Swan to fend for herself in prison! If Emma and Henry did not wish you to be apart of their lives, I can assure you that I would not think of you as much more than a bone fide sperm donor."

"Well, it's not as though Henry was completely happy when you were his only parent! You made him feel worthless! You truly were the Evil Queen!"

Silence. The tension in the room had reached such a high that both Emma and Henry seemed terrified to even so much as blink. Neal seemed oblivious to the extreme level of hatred that seemed to be oozing off of Regina like a toxic substance; in fact he looked as though he had won the entire argument. It was possibly the child that still seemed to drive most of Neal's thoughts that had decided that calling Regina her previous name was a good idea. It was the decision of a child who had appealed to his own father for his own evils, rather than a rational adult who would possess enough common sense not to poke a sleeping bear.

The vein on Regina's forehead was practically popping out of her skin; her lips turning up into an unforgiving snarl. Her eyes seemed to be calculating her next move, debating whether to remain calm and let it go or to rip out the man's jugular. Any sort of interference would not work out well for anyone, so the others waited, holding their breaths in hope that Regina would decide to follow the less violent course of action. The brunette moved silently, turning away from Neal pointedly and turning her attentions to Henry and Emma.

"Henry, we will talk about your insubordination when we get home. Do you know what insubordination means?"

"It means I'm grounded." Henry replied sheepishly, repeating what had been said to him only a few times before.

"Smart boy."

"Is that really necessary? Surely, we don't need to ground the boy. You know you've done wrong, right?" Neal appealed, smiling at the son he was so obviously trying to appease.

"No Neal, Regina is right." All eyes turned to Emma, all seemingly confused about her taking the side of the woman who was barely a friend rather than her fiancé. Regina offered the woman a small smile, grateful for the support that she still wasn't used to ever receiving. "Henry, your mother and I will discuss how long your punishment will be for and we need to talk about why you've been skipping school again. This can't happen again, okay?"

"Yes, Ma."

Emma smiled slightly at her son, proud of him for seemingly taking his punishment without much fuss. She was sure that he would probably try and manipulate around certain conditions, he had certainly inherited that skill from Regina, as it certainly hadn't been from anything she had passed on to her son. Although Emma would never admit it, she was slightly jealous of the fact that both mother and son could look at her with the same exact expression that she knew would mean she would give in sooner or later.

"Come on Henry, let's go home." Placing a protective hand on Henry's shoulder, Regina waited as her son stood up and slung his backpack, which no longer seemed to be as big on him as it used to be, over his shoulder. With a small nod of acknowledgement to both Mary Margaret and Emma, mother and son left the room.

* * *

Things between Emma and Neal had been extremely quiet since they had both left the school to return back to the apartment. Neither one of them knew what to say to each other without upsetting the other. It had been hours since a proper sentence was uttered between them, instead the usual small, occasional please and thank you while cooking and serving dinner had been exchanged.

This was the first time that Emma had seen Neal look so defensive. It didn't hold a candle even to those moments when Neal and Gold had started out on their path to fixing their relationship. It even surpassed the awkward conversations between Neal and Hook, who still held a fatherly affection for the man who could have been his family. No, he seemed betrayed. Betrayed because of the fact that the woman he loved didn't take his side and didn't jump to his defence at Regina's remarks.

He felt second rate. Like his opinion as Henry's parent did not matter in comparison to Regina or even Emma's views. Emma knew that the man still felt sad about the fact that Henry referred to his mothers as his mothers, whereas Neal was always just Neal. She knew it hurt him but at the same time, there was no way that she could be the carefree parent. She needed to offer at least a fraction of the stability that Regina offered to Henry. She needed to learn how to actually be a mother rather than a friend, otherwise what role would she ever have in her son's life on the long term?

"Neal…"

"No Emma! I just wanted a little back up and you couldn't even give me that! She…she called me a sperm donor and you didn't even defend me! You didn't say anything! We're supposed to have each other's backs, just like we used to!"

Staring at the man she had thought she loved in disbelief, she almost wanted to laugh. There was never a day that she didn't look at Neal and Henry and have the ever-present truth that Neal had left her to rot in prison while he went elsewhere, grip onto her heart. No matter how many times he told her that she had always been on his mind for those 10 years, no matter how many times he apologised, she had come to realise that it would never be the same. What was worse was that he couldn't see how that wrong could linger on, he thought that for the past year, they had gotten passed everything and that the past didn't matter anymore. That was what hurt Emma more than anything. He thought he was right, and that is what infuriated her with every fibre of her being.

"What the hell, Neal?! If you happened to remember, the last time I saw you before I stumbled across your apartment in New York, you promised me Tallahassee! You promise me that and then you left me in prison with nothing but a car for when I got out! You didn't bother to contact me for ten whole fucking years! When did you have my back then?"

"I told you…I'm truly sorry for that!"

"I know! But that doesn't mean that it didn't happen! It happened, it hurt and once again I was alone in the world with no one to share the stresses of my pregnancy with! I had to give up our son because the life I had ahead of me would never be enough for him! It could have been enough! We could have been enough, but you left me!" Emma could truly feel the anger and frustration that had been building up inside well and truly spill over. She could feel the heated tracks of tears that she did not know she was shedding mar her face. "Don't you dare ever be so hypocritical to accuse me of not having your back!"

Stepping forward, Neal's brown eyes shone with hurt and regret. It was almost enough to make Emma retch. She could not deal with this right now, especially when she had to deal with Regina and everything else that was happening right now. This was too much and the overwhelming need to run was engulfing her until she felt like she would suffocate in this apartment. A hand reached out for her, but the blonde flinched away, glaring at the hurt face of her fiancé.

"I have to go." She muttered, turning round abruptly and practically sprinting out of the door. She needed time away from Neal, she needed time to think and process. Or she just needed something to take her mind off of him.

As soon as she got outside the main building, she began to run. Her feet steadily hitting the pavement in a way that made her feel strong, powerful and free. It was exhilarating and she instantly felt her mind clear, regardless of the strange looks she was getting from those she passed on the street. It was not everyday that the residents of Storybrooke saw their Sheriff running full pelt, with red puffy eyes and tears still running freshly down her cheeks.

The motion of running was so consuming that she did not even notice that she soon found herself outside of the Mills' Mansion. The imposing house had never before seemed so welcoming as it did in that moment. Her son was in there and so was Regina. It was as if it housed both the ability to lighten and understand her soul in one and for that Emma let out a shuddering breath, relieved at the feeling that the sight gave her.

There was not much time to evaluate these thoughts, before she hurried up the pathway and impatiently knocked on the door. She knew that Henry would have been sent to bed by now. But she truly wanted to see Regina; something she could not explain. Nor could she explain why she felt that the side of the Mayor's face would bring her a sense of relief; she dare not question it for the sake of her sanity. Still the feeling was there and she was going to indulge for once.

It seemed like time was moving at an unforgivably slow pace, with seconds seeming like whole eternities had passed for Emma. Sure enough though, the door swung open revealing a slightly perturbed and curious Regina. The blonde allowed for brown eyes to soak each detail of her scruffy appearance in. Her hair was mussed from running, sweat and tears mingling together on her face and her breath was still haggard, as if she had not run in decades. She looked like the definition of crap and had it not been for the tears, Regina would probably have made some comment pointing out that fact.

Instead, the brunette simply opened the door wider, inviting the Sheriff into her home. Wordlessly, Emma gratefully hopped inside, making sure that she removed her dusty boots to avoid getting mutilated by the older woman in front of her.

"So…hi." Emma said, smiling weakly at Regina who still looked confused as to why the woman was here.

"I thought you would be off with your love, licking his wounds and what not." Regina huffed, stalking off towards the study without a word; expecting that she would be followed.

"I'd rather let him lick his own wounds."

"I see, dear." A wry smile formed itself on Regina's lips. "So, why are you here?"

"Well, we needed to uh discuss Henry's punishment and uh I just needed to see you?" Emma shrugged, scuffing her feet on the ground as Regina sat down primly on the couch.

"You needed to see me?" Brown eyes implored into green, trying to ascertain the truthfulness behind the sentiment. All she could see in swirling in the depths of the blonde's eyes was a dense cloud of confusion and worry. The girl was certainly struggling with things and this new development only seemed to cement that notion in Regina's mind.

"Yeah, well things have been hectic and you like understand. You actually cared the other day and yeah, I guess I need that right now." Emma failed to sound as nonchalant as perhaps she ought to have done in the situation. She could feel her pale skin begin to redden as a blush crept across her face. Right where Regina was currently sitting was where they had kissed not too long ago and the memory of it seemed to further comfort Emma in a way that it had never done previously.

She could almost feel Regina's soft lips, wandering hands and rhythmic heartbeat. There was no denying that she had lost herself in that moment and there was also no denying the fact that she craved that feeling again.

Almost without thinking, Emma approached the older woman slowly, one hand reaching our to cup her cheek. Regina's shocked expression to such an intimate gesture that neither of them had shared before was betrayed by the automatic response to nuzzle her face further into the touch. Both women stared openly into each other's eyes, gaging exactly what was happening between the two of them.

Kneeling down, Emma lowered herself to Regina's eye level. She now stroked the soft skin below her thumbs, revelling in the feel of the other woman's skin. It was something she had dreamt of doing since the other night and finally she felt comfortable enough doing the action. She didn't care about what would happen after this. All she wanted in this moment was to feel the safety that surprisingly this woman seemed to offer her. There was no going back; she wanted to forget all of her problems for just one night and focus on feeling whole.

"Emma…what about Neal?" Regina asked warily, trying to be the voice of reason. It was becoming so hard to resist what her body was screaming at her to do. She longed to weave her hand into blonde tresses and pull the other woman's lips to hers. The swirling desire and acceptance in sparkling green eyes enticed her with every hope that she had long since pushed aside and even though there was no way this could end well, she found herself not caring in the slightest.

As if to answer the loaded question, Emma tentatively closed the gap between them, brushing her lips softly against Regina's. Soft kisses soon became more desperate, Regina pulling Emma as close as was humanly possible in their position, a hand clutching into those golden locks, while Emma's hands cupped the brunette's face.

Both of them knew that they would be damned for this. It was necessary but it was also stupid. The two women were not ignorant to that fact. However for once, as Emma ran her tongue across Regina's bottom lip, begging for permission to deepen the kiss, neither of the women opted to do the sensible thing.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello there wonderful readers! I am so sorry for the late update, but I hope you all enjoy it! Thank you all for the reviews, favourites and follows! I never thought that anything I wrote would gain this much interest so I basically love you all for encouraging me in this way, it really helps! This chapter is un-beta'd unfortunately so any mistake made is mine and will probably haunt me for hours after I discover it. Anyways, sorry again for the lateness, I am desperately trying to be better for you! Enjoy and once again constructive criticism is encouraged and welcomed!**

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1

* * *

**Chapter 6**

No matter how hard she tried, Regina was pretty sure that she had not felt this content for quite some time. Emma had been lazily tracing patterns along her soft, olive skin as the two women continued to share languid kisses. She enjoyed the way that the woman above her seemed to be memorising her skin and she found herself revelling in the intricate patterns that the blonde was tracing lightly across her bare ribcage.

With Henry in the house, both women had wordlessly agreed that this would be as far as they'd allow themselves to indulge. Even so, Regina had found that she simply did not mind, as the moment they were currently sharing was so perfect that she didn't want it to end.

She honestly had never thought that she could find such refuge in the blonde. Perhaps this was just another example of the ways in which she truly did fill the role of saviour perfectly. She had the ability to spread lightness, no matter how dark she truly felt inside; a true mixture of grey that Regina couldn't help but marvel at. It was like a breath of fresh air; differing greatly from the black and white view that had seemed to rule their homeland. It really did give her hope that one day not everyone would view her as a monster to tiptoe carefully around.

The slow descent of Emma's lips, along Regina's jaw and down her neck, sent shivers throughout her entire body. If the blonde continued, she wasn't sure whether the line they had drawn would blur instantly. It surely seemed that way as the blonde above her subconsciously ground her hips against Regina's creating a friction that could very well be their undoing.

Reluctantly, Regina pushed the younger woman off of her, trying desperately not to give in to the confused and slightly dejected green eyes in front of her. The brunette shook her head, smiling grimly at Emma, who removed herself from her position atop of Regina with a saddened huff.

"Emma…we really should be careful."

The younger woman fiddled with her fingers in her lap, a small frown emerging on her face. It almost shocked Regina to see the woman pull the same expression as her son did. It was in these moments where it was clear that nature certainly had some influence over Henry, regardless of how much Regina had wanted to deny this fact the very moment that she had laid eyes on this woman. But, being a less insufferable woman than the one who had infuriated Regina at the beginning, she found herself being enthralled by it rather than repulsed or resentful.

"I just want things to be easy." Muttered the blonde, refusing to make eye contact. "This feels easy…"

"Oh dear, this is never going to be easy. I'm the Evil Queen, remember and you have a…well you have a Neal."

"Oh don't be ridiculous! You are no Evil Queen, Regina! Not anymore and not for as long as I have known you! So cut the crap!" Emma's eyes burned with fierce defiance. It was unsettling for Regina and it was not something she could ever say she had experienced much before. Such passion to dissuade her of the darkness that had been all that anyone could see had never once been shown by anyone, not even her father.

"That doesn't take away from the fact that…"

"Look, we all need to clear our heads from our problems, right? We all need an escape so that we can finally sort out or problems. Just let…can we just please…"

Pale fingers brushed roughly through blonde locks, as Emma huffed out her frustration and shrugged. It was clear that the woman was struggling with everything. Her movements were fidgety, as if she would rather get in a car and drive as far away from her problems as she could. And Regina couldn't have that. She couldn't have that for Henry and if she really considered it, she really didn't want that for herself either. If being that escape that Emma needed meant that she could keep the blonde, then she would do it, regardless of the trouble she knew could come out of this.

Sighing, Regina reached out a hand and clasped Emma's own shaking fingers gently, squeezing them in a manner that she hoped was reassuring. A small smile graced her face as Emma finally lifted her head to look back into her eyes instead of shying away again and with a sudden burst of confidence, she lifted Regina's hand to her lips and placed feather light kisses over her knuckles.

"For now dear, we'll just enjoy this. But you do know that you can't keep running forever, don't you?"

Emma nodded solemnly before pulling Regina closer to her and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. The two women resumed their earlier positions fairly quickly, simply taking the time to enjoy each other before they would have to inevitably return to the realities of their lives.

* * *

The tension that lingered in the air of Emma's apartment for the rest of the week could have been cut with a knife and so she found herself avoiding the place as much as she could. Neal was still angry with her over the fact that she had dared side with Regina over him, while Emma was getting all too tired of his childish behaviour. It also did not help that the blonde was forever trying to think up different excuses to go to the Mayor's office. She had resisted so far, but with every little curt answer or temper tantrum that Neal had pulled, she felt herself needing Regina's company now more than ever.

Unfortunately, Mary Margaret had, had other plans. If Emma was not working, her mother had ensured that every possible free moment of her day was spent going over decisions for the wedding she had never dreamt would be this big. She had wanted small and intimate, if she really wanted it to take place at all and the stress of it all was making her feel sick to her stomach. Even Henry, who had made a point to see her on his way home from school every day since the terms of his grounding and the wedding planning did not allot them much time together, had complained bitterly about the size of the festivities. However, Emma had a sneaking suspicion that it was more due to the fact that she had told him that if he dared wear his Dora the Explorer watch that he claimed was cool because Tony Stark had worn one, his grandmother would probably have his head.

"Sometimes I don't even think I'd care if you got married or not." Henry had mused during his last visit to the Sheriff's station. "I just want everyone to find their happy ending, you know?"

Which was a drastic change from the previous year, or even from the moment that Neal and Emma had announced their engagement to Henry. It made Emma wonder whether her hesitancy and doubts were truly that obvious that even her 12-year-old son could see it. But then again, the kid had figured out that he was living in a cursed town and he _had_ been raised by Regina; to say that he was perceptive would have been an understatement.

In response to this, Emma had merely shrugged and agreed, allowing Henry to change the subject to his mother, who had apparently begun spending her days looking very pensive. The subject change was probably just a coincidence; Henry was surely just concerned about his mom and knew that Emma was the only other person that he could talk to about it. Both of them knew that it was unlikely, that anyone besides Archie would care enough and Regina would probably not be best pleased if Henry had shared these worries with anyone but Emma. She was still insistent that she could handle things her way and refused outside help for the most part.

However, currently, it didn't seem like either Emma's nor Henry's doubts were being taken into account, leaving Emma with the tedious duty of writing up extensive guest lists.

It was fucking ridiculous! Mary Margaret has warned her, that although they were still stuck in this world, many people did see Emma as a princess of some kind, meaning that to not invite certain people would be considered rude. Luckily for her, Maleficent was still stuck underground in whatever hellish form she had found herself in, meaning that the witch would probably not give her the Aurora treatment and threaten her first born child if she were omitted from the guest list. Emma chuckled to herself, imagining Maleficent turning up and spewing some spiel similar to that of the lines from _Sleeping Beauty_. Lord knows Emma got a tiny kick out of things like that. It was preferable, rather than letting it creep her out immensely, as had been her initial reaction, but she had learnt that her humour would be her own personal saviour.

It did still seem highly pointless that Emma should have to take into account the fact that she should make sure that Gold should not be seated next to anyone with whom he had previously cursed or harmed. The man had certainly not made the task simple for her. Was there even anyone in any of the godforsaken worlds that the odious man had not pissed off in one-way or another?

Groaning, she drew another massive red cross through her useless current plan and let her head fall flat onto the desk. There was nothing as frustrating as this and Emma's hands itched to grab for her jacket and head over to see Regina. One; she knew that the woman would probably be glad to see her to distract her from the tedious reports that Emma had sent her to look through and two; she really just needed to talk to someone who would not remind her of the shit she was trying to avoid.

"Fuck." Emma muttered, wondering when her life had once again felt like a constricting hand closing around her throat.

"Our tax-dollars hard at work I see."

Practically jumping out of her chair, Emma gasped and almost smacked her knee hard against the desk at the sudden statement. Regardless of the fact that she had just been thinking about the person who now stood in front of her, she couldn't suppress the glare that she shot at Regina. The woman was just standing in the doorway to Emma's office, her eyes twinkling with amusement and her lips formed into a smirk.

"What the hell, Regina? Did you ever think of knocking? How the hell did you not make any noise?" Emma scowled. She had become so used to the sound of heels alerting her to Regina's presence, that she at least had some form of warning before. This however, was as if the woman had purposely decided to creep in and scare the living daylights out of the blonde.

"Well Emma, if _someone_ had been doing their job instead of taking a nap, you would have seen me coming." Regina's smirk seemed to be growing by the second as she advanced into the room.

"I wasn't napping! I was…thinking." How could this woman be so infuriating when moments before Emma had been thinking about how seeing her would make everything better? Although, the comfortable bickering was something that Emma felt okay with. It was easy, pretty much like everything else seemed with Regina these days.

"About work or this rather charming seating plan?" Taking the crossed out chart in her hand, the brunette wrinkled her nose in distaste before setting it back down on the desk. "Unless you were thinking about something else entirely, Ms Swan?"

An unwanted blush quickly found its way across Emma's cheeks as Regina quirked an amused eyebrow at her. Trying to maintain eye contact and the small amount of mystery that Emma felt she still might possess.

"What brings you by, Regina?" Emma asked. She huffed slightly as Regina perched on the edge of her desk, rather than opting to sit in one the hard plastic chairs opposite.

"Well Ms Swan, I have not had the pleasure of seeing you since Monday and I came to see why exactly that is. However, it appears as though something else has been taking up your time."

There was no ignoring the slight hint of irritation and hurt that laced through Regina's words, but then that was probably the point. The older woman glanced once again at the seating chart and narrowed her eyes briefly, as if such an action could cause the paper to burst into flames. Although, that sort of feat would definitely not be outside of Regina's capabilities, had she not promised both Henry and Emma that she would keep the pyrotechnics to a minimum.

"Missed me, huh?" Emma asked, waggling her eyebrows playfully as Regina rolled her eyes at the blonde's foolishness. "Yeah, I've been kept pretty busy! What with Mary Margaret _insisting_ that I sort out this stupid seating chart! I never wanted this!"

"This? The large seating chart, or the wedding?"

"Like hell if I know anymore."

Regina's smile softened drastically, taking in the confused and aggravated blonde in front of her. With this much confusion, she would have thought that Emma would have realised that this wedding was probably not what she truly wanted but being the idiot that she was, she was dead set on keeping to the expectations of her family. There was no logical reason for this, but she was willing to indulge Emma until she finally figured that out for herself.

"Hey, listen. Can we not talk about this anymore? I just want to forget about this shit for a little while, okay?" Emma pleaded, consciously covering all of the plans with paperwork that had been completed hours ago, much to her surprise and pride.

"Well dear, what else would you like to talk about?"

Smirking, Emma walked around the desk and firmly placed her hands on the hard surface, so that she had effectively trapped Regina into her perched position on the desk. The blonde leaned in to Regina's ear; her breath brushing against olive skin and sending tingles down the brunette's spine. She was very grateful for the fact that everyone else was busy, so no one would walk in on this little exchange.

Moving her hands from the desk, Emma gently stroked down Regina's side, allowing her hands to rest on pant-covered thighs. She could hear the Mayor's soft intake of breath as Emma parted her thighs and situated herself in between them, getting as close to the older woman as possible.

"Maybe, we should just not talk?" Emma whispered.

Without waiting for an answer, Emma moved her face backwards, desperately seeking Regina's lips with her own. She had been craving this since Monday and no way was she going to let this moment pass her by again. She smiled at the feeling of the older woman's lips against hers and quickly sought to deepen the kiss, turning all of her pent up frustration into an out powering of passion. She was barely thinking of anything other than the woman before her, her hands frantically exploring Regina's unnecessarily clothed body.

Sensing the urgency in Emma's movements, Regina quickly shucked off her blazer and allowed the garment to fall on one of the chairs. Neither of them wanted to waste time. Neither of them knew when this would get to happen again and no way was Regina going to be able to go days without this happening again.

Gripping Emma's chin between her fingers, she pulled the blonde's lips away from hers and tilted her face upwards; seeking instead to kiss a trail of soft kisses and nibbles down the now exposed expanse of neck available for her. Emma moaned softly, winding a hand in Regina's hair, urging the Mayor to increase the harshness of her bites as she made her way to the blonde's pulse point.

Emma could not remember a time when this sort of encounter had ever felt _this_ good. There was something about the way that slender fingers whispered under her shirt and across porcelain skin that made her wish that this would never stop. She needed Regina and it felt like the only thing she was sure of in her life at that moment. It was grounding her in a way that was both terrifying and exhilarating. These were the feelings that spread warmth through her entire being; these emotions only getting stronger as Regina's fingers grazed over her bra, pinching at concealed nipples through the fabric.

She needed more. She needed the feeling to consume her until she never had to think of anything else ever again. She moved Regina's hands away, earning her a confused and slightly dejected look in return. Smirking softly, Emma kissed the small frown on the older woman's face and agonizingly slowly began to undo each button of Regina's shirt. Eagerly, she reverently moved to kiss every new space of exposed skin that she revealed with each button. Her kisses trailing along the edges of a black lacy bra that Emma really wished was not in her way.

Finally reaching the final button, Emma swiftly pushed the blouse from slender, olive shoulders. There was no noise in the room except the sound of heavy breathing and the strong heartbeat that Emma could hear from her place, pressed against Regina's chest. She didn't know why she did it, it just seemed right in that moment, but tentatively the blonde looked up at Regina's flushed face and deliberately kissed the skin over where her heart was protected by her chest bone. Regina gasped softly at the action. There was something so beautiful about the tender way in which Emma was kissing her and it felt like this was what they should have been doing all along.

Still with green eyes fixed on brown, Emma kissed her heart once more as she stroked her hand down Regina's back until she found the bra clasp that was keeping the brunette hidden from her. Making quick work with the garment, she couldn't help but lean away and take the sight in front of her in. It was mesmerising, seeing Regina's skin flushed and her perfect breasts finally uncovered for Emma's eyes. Drawing her eyes away, she looked up at Regina's face, who was watching her silently. An unvoiced challenge seemed to flare in her eyes as she dared Emma to stop her gawking. That challenge would never leave the Mayor's eyes and for that Emma was glad. It was familiar and so inherently Regina that she wouldn't want it any other way.

Feeling the need to touch and memorise every inch of Regina, the blonde finally stepped forward again, gently caressing both breasts in tentative hands. She allowed herself to listen to the way Regina gasped in response to each pinch, touch and caress, feeling the moment to give her new lover exactly what she needed. It felt even better though, when Emma planted the first kiss on Regina's left breast. Kiss and nibbling at the skin, practically rejoicing in every moan and gasp that fell out of painted red lips.

"Emma…" Regina gasped, her voice laced with desire as Emma continued to smooth her tongue over a taunt nipple.

"Mmm?"

"Don't make me beg." The brunette hissed, running a hand through blonde locks before gripping harshly. She pulled the woman back, mustering up the biggest glare she could in this state.

"Well, then…" Emma husked, trailing a hand down and carefully undoing the button and zipper on the trousers that Regina was wearing. "Why don't you lie down then, your Majesty?"

Quickly realising Emma's intent, Regina eagerly complied with the request and shuffled more comfortably onto the desk. She leant back on her elbows, meaning to watch every move that Emma was about to make with anticipation. A shy and nervous smile seemed to cross the blonde's features before she hooked her fingers around the waistband of the trousers and leaning down to kiss and nuzzle the skin of Regina's abdomen. With each tantalising inch that her kisses neared the very place Regina needed her most, she began to pull down the trousers with the help of Regina who lifter her hips up in order to rid herself of the fabric completely.

As Emma sat back to admire her new vantage point, it became clear that Regina was most certainly aroused enough if the wet state of black lace was anything to go by. Moaning lowly in the back of her throat, the blonde gripped each of Regina's thighs, pulling them further apart so she could properly situate herself in-between them. Planning to tease the Mayor a bit before finally allowing her the contact she craved, Emma began by kissing up on thigh, followed by the other. She trailed her kisses up into the apex of Regina's thighs, enjoying the way her body seemed to be thrumming in anticipation.

Regina let out a warning growl as Emma nibbled her right thigh, expressing her frustration with the blonde. Everything this woman did would always be infuriating it seemed, no matter what the circumstances were. It has always used to be a constant game of baiting each other and now it seemed like Emma had decided to bring that back in her own special way.

Chuckling against heated flesh, Emma finally took a purposeful lick over the fabric of Regina's underwear. Gasping as the sudden sensation, the brunette found her hips bucking instantly at the sensation. She needed to have Emma's mouth and tongue against her and she needed it now. She lifted her hips off of the desk and wiggled slightly.

"Take them off." She gritted through clenched teeth as Emma placed a hard kiss over where Regina's clit was shielded.

"Of course, your Majesty." Emma chuckled huskily. She readily complied, once again trying to contain herself when she finally saw Regina in all of her glorious beauty.

There was nothing that could be better than this moment right here and now. Emma felt like she wanted to thank Regina for this rest bite. To praise her for being able to take away all of the dark thoughts that lurked in the recesses of Emma's mind and replaced them with a slither of happiness and distractions. So without further delay, she leaned forward, allowing her tongue to slowly run between wet folds.

The taste and smell was intoxicating and so wholly Regina that Emma could feel her own wetness increase exponentially. She quickly licked again, this time delving her tongue further into Regina, causing the older woman to groan in satisfaction, her head now leaning back as she savoured every sensation. With the sounds of encouragement egging her on, Emma quickened her pace, swirling and licking, hooking her arms underneath quivering thighs to ring the woman closer.

It was the sharp cry that Emma's sudden kiss upon Regina's clit that almost sent the blonde's head spinning. She couldn't help but revel in the way that Regina's body seemed to writhe in response to Emma's sucking and nibbling. It was like she had never known she had wanted this so much before in her life but now that the situation was upon her, she could not think of anything else that she wanted to experience in her life.

No longer content on just using her mouth, Emma cautiously slipped two fingers inside of Regina, earning her a whimper as she began a merciless pace. With each curl of her fingers, she could feel the Mayor tighten around her, her climax near in sight.

With one last, hard swipe of Emma's tongue, Regina clamped her hand in her mouth, stifling the cry that accompanied the quivering feeling of her entire body as her orgasm ran through her core. She felt the blonde begin to slow her movements down, letting Regina ride out the pleasure until she felt her body begin to relax again.

Removing her fingers from Regina, the blonde leaned over the brunette's body in order to capture her lips in a searing kiss. Regina pushed herself up upright, deepening the kiss, as she tasted herself on her lover's tongue, a surge of pleasure rushing through her at the knowledge of what had just happened. Wordlessly, she broke the kiss, grasping the wrist of the hand that was slick with her own juices and pulled the fingers to her lips. She knew that the blonde was watching avidly as she closed her eyes and began the process of cleaning each of Emma's digits, moaning seductively at the taste of herself on Emma. She could hear Emma's low growl and sure enough when the brunette opened her eyes, the usually green eyes in front of her appeared mostly black in the wake of Emma's desire.

"Bloody hell! What's going on here?"

Panicked, both women broke from their trance and whipped their heads to face the door to the station. Sure enough, standing there with a disgusting and nauseating smirk on his face was a very smug Killian Jones. His eyes cast down Regina's exposed body thoughtfully, as she angrily closed her blouse and Emma, in her panic seemed to try her best to pull up the underwear and trousers that were pooled at Regina's ankles.

Emma looked like a deer trapped in headlights and Regina's glower could have caused even the bravest of people to flee. Why couldn't the good moment last?

"How long have you been here?" Regina hissed, resorting to using her magic to restore whatever dignity she had left.

"Long enough, your Majesty." Hook responded, quirking an amused eyebrow. "Long enough."

Emma looked between Regina and Hook, feeling the weight of the situation crush down on her like a tonne of bricks. Hook could tell Neal. Oh God, she had cheated on Neal.

"Oh fuck!"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello my dears! Here's another update for you! I really hope you enjoy this chapter, I changed its content so many times in my head before actually finishing it, so I hope you all like it. I am so grateful for all of you who have reviewed, followed and favourited this story, some of your reviews really have kept me focused on the progression of this story and made me contemplate things I really do need to, so thank you. Well without further ado, here's chapter 7 for you all!**

**Disclaimer: **Please see Chapter 1.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

If Emma had ever bothered to use the latent magic inside of her after returning from Neverland, she would have gladly used it to make the ground beneath her open up and swallow her whole. Either that, or give in to the surge of adrenaline that had began overtaking her body, urging her legs to start running and not stop until she was far away from this situation. How could she have been so stupid? How could the weight of what she had been doing with Regina, on only a few occasions, have only really hit her now?

It was certainly too late to allow the words 'you're cheating on Neal' to have entered her head. Not now that Hook was standing in front of her and Regina, his eyebrow quirked half way between amusement and concern. There was no way that she could push the thought to the side now, not with Regina's glower and threatening stance next to her. This was not going to end well for anyone. And it was most definitely going to be her fault.

"So I guess your little dilemma did indeed involve both the Queen and Baelfire, Swan? I did tell you that you were somewhat of an open book, but I didn't think you'd be inclined to open Regina's-"

Regina hissed vehemently, effectively silencing the pirate. She looked like she was just about ready to take someone's head off out of desperation and frustration. "Don't you dare say another word, Hook. Unless you wish to be without both of your hands!"

A low chuckle erupted from Hook, his eyes twinkling with amusement, as though he did not believe Regina's threat for a second. Without much regard for building anticipation and tension that seemed to be rolling off of the two women, he sauntered over to the far wall of the station, leaning nonchalantly against the stone as he studied them.

Emma crossed her arms firmly across her chest, returning the gaze indignantly, preparing herself for the conversation that was surely to come. The utter chaos in her mind had returned in full force, screaming at her incessantly for the stupid mistakes she had made. Although, whether her biggest mistake was having sex with Regina or for still being with Neal, she was still not entirely sure.

There was no way that this secret would remain a secret for long. No doubt they would need to promise Hook something in return for his silence; a messy business that really made Emma undoubtedly glad that it had at least been Hook, rather than Rumple who had stumbled in on them. She let out a resigned sigh. "What do you want, Hook?"

"I don't want much from you, lass. I was just hoping that you'd both care to shed some light onto exactly what's transpiring here."

"And what? We tell you and you promise to never breathe a word of this to anyone?" Scoffing, Regina strode forward. She looked like every bit of the predator, stalking her prey until she was standing well within the pirate's personal space; waiting and daring the pirate to say anything to the contrary. "I don't quite believe you."

"Trust me, I have no desire to get caught in the middle of whatever consequences transpire from this conquest. I have nothing to gain from spilling your little secret."

"Then why not just leave now and let us handle things?" Emma asked, silently hoping that the man would just leave and she could get the backlash that Regina was going to give her alone, over and done with. The longer things were drawn out, the more her body still screamed at her to return to old habits and run and she would not let that innate behaviour mess up anything else.

"Curiosity. Perhaps I want to know why you evaded all of my advances and yet seemed to have run into the Queen's open arms. You wound me, Swan."

"Oh please. Not everyone likes to be harassed with some poorly formed wit and sexual innuendo. Your advances are nothing more than invasive and crude at best, although I really did think you would have learnt that by now, considering how many failed attempts you've made at courting Ms Swan."

"Oh? Regina, I had no idea you disliked my activities with Emma quite so much. Perhaps, this pairing is starting to make a little more sense. Been feeling jealous, your Majesty?"

Hook laughed at the furious expression that crossed Regina's face. The fact that she didn't deny the accusation didn't go unnoticed by both Emma and Killian. Although, the more Emma contemplated it, the more she realised that Hook really hadn't made a habit of hitting on her in awhile. Not since Neal had proposed, anyway. Which meant that Regina had probably been feeling somewhat bitter about his advances for some time, which was an entirely confusing notion for Emma to deal with right now. She just needed to get this over with; stop the panic that she could feel engulfing her.

"Can we stop bickering now? Get to the point, Hook or so help me God, I am going to castrate you."

"Alright lass, since you asked so nicely." Winking and chuckling at the brash response from the blonde, Hook shook his head. "I will keep your secret, but if I were you, I'd sort things out quickly."

"And why is that?"

"Lass, no matter how heartbroken Baelfire is going to be when he finds out that his blushing bride has been defiling the Evil Queen, it's going to be nothing compared to the rage of The Crocodile." Waving his missing hand in the air, he seemed to be punctuating his point. "I think we all know what happens when you upset Rumplestiltskin and if there's one thing that, that demon would do to upset the peace, it would be to avenge his son or his Belle and something tells me he wouldn't hesitate in at least harming you, Regina."

Gold…he had never even crossed Emma's mind when it came to the possible consequences of her and Regina. In fact, she had stupidly not thought of the consequences at all, merely revelling in the sensations of safety and something else that Emma was not sure she understood or was willing to think about. She supposed that her parents would most likely blame Regina, that she would have to protect her should the need arise. She knew she would have to deal with Henry and all of the betrayal he would undoubtedly feel should they be found out and she knew that Neal would be heartbroken. But those issues could be dealt with, with time, Gold's rage however, would not be quite so easily be dealt with.

Thankfully, Emma knew that she could not let that happen. She would not let that happen.

It seemed as though Regina had been following through on the same wavelength while she had silently studied Hook. "Who knows what that imp would do. This is not as simple as we fooled ourselves to believe."

"And you had doubts about that, love?" Killian laughed again, shaking his head at them both. "For two smart women, you can be incredibly stupid."

"Oh would you be quiet, dear?"

"Well, I should be off and leave you two lovebirds to discuss this. Good luck."

With one, almost uncharacteristic, sympathetic grin, the one person who could have potentially ruined everything, strode out of the room and left Emma and Regina alone once more. A small, sheepish smile spread across Emma's face, trying to alleviate the tension that continued to roll around Regina in waves.

"So…that went better than expected." The nervous sheriff chuckled, taking a step towards Regina.

Just as she reached out a hand to Regina, the older woman whirled around, a terrifying glare fixed on her face. It was that glare that Emma knew well, the one she'd received countless times before, only this was the only time that she had actually been fearful of it. Never before had she received it and not wanted to fight back, not wanted to push her buttons more, she just wanted to make it better.

"This is better than expected?! You're saying that this whole affair, that Hook walking in on us has gone better than expected? Are you seriously that stupid? You come in here and have sex with me on the desk like there wasn't a risk that we could be caught?" Regina's chest was heaving; her eyes wild and her magic seemed to crackle around her fingertips.

"Excuse me, but _you_ were the one who came in here while I was working−"

"You were _sleeping._"

All sympathy for the woman in front of her seemed to drain as Emma felt the familiar sense of outrage fill her. "Oh like that fucking matters, Regina! I am not the only one to blame here! We're both in this; we're both going to face the consequences if people find out. This is not just _my_ fault!"

In a blink of an eye, Regina was nose to nose with Emma, her eyes burning furiously. Her lips were now curled in a sneer, revelling in the moment. "Well dear, I am not the one with a fiancé at home. Tell me, what happens when you have sex with him, dear? Do you think of me instead?"

Red. That was the only thing that Emma could see. There was too much anger, too much frustration and the red of Regina's cruel smirk. Digging her nails into her palms as hard as possible, she could barely resist the urge to reach out and harshly grab the woman in front of her and shove her against the wall. Violence was not uncommon to them, it was something that happened when low blows were made, something that both of them accepted, but now…it felt wrong. Emma refused to lash out in that way, refused to give Regina a fool proof reason to leave and not turn back and Emma found herself scared of that. She didn't want Regina to leave; she didn't want this to end. It was probably sick, being so angry at the woman but not being able to stop the feelings whirling around inside of her.

"Regina… We need to figure out how to make this work." Emma said, her voice betraying her anger and fear with a tremble.

The cruel glint in Regina's eyes seemed to soften. She was confused by the sheriff's behaviour. The woman who would usually rise to all challenges that were thrown her way, was now refusing to take a stand, just rolling with the punches that Regina threw her way with no real fall out. It was maddening, it was unusual; it wasn't how they worked. It was enough to deflate the brunette; enough to make her second-guess what this actually meant to the both of them.

Despite everything she knew she should do, Regina found herself cupping Emma's cheek with one hand, allowing for the blonde to instinctively nuzzle closer to the contact. It was almost enough to make a smile break out on the mayor's face. It was odd how quickly they had fallen into this, this state of being comforted by each other's touch. It was quite troubling, considering their situation.

"What do you suggest, dear? It seems like it will only be a matter of time before things go wrong. Things never do go well for long for people like us."

"I suggest that we just continue this. Continue this until we figure it out, until we figure out what we need to do."

Regina opened her mouth to remind Emma that it was mostly on her to make the decision. She was the one caught in-between Neal and Regina, the one who would be betraying everyone, but instead Regina chose to keep her mouth shut. It would not do to scare the blonde, especially when she was already so skittish in the first place. So instead she smile at the blonde, closing the short distance that remained between them and kissed her briefly and softly in reassurance.

"Okay. We'll figure it out, but Emma, we can't keep this a secret forever, you know?"

"I know, but for now, can we just enjoy it? Please?"

Chuckling softly, Regina shook her head at the almost childish plea presented before her. Refusing to answer, she kissed Emma again, drawing the blonde to a supply closet to the side of the room. If they were going to enjoy things, Regina reasoned that they should really continue with what they had been enjoying earlier.

* * *

Solitary drinking had become a past time that Regina had indulged in often. She had indulged in the old world and in this new existence of hers; it helped her think sometimes, calming the nerves that plagued her existence. Tonight, was a night for deep contemplation and for that, she would need her cider.

It was not enough to become a crutch, she had made sure of that, seeing Leroy's activities in his 28 years of cursed existence, it had been easy to deter herself from becoming that dependent. She refused to be found, vomiting and completely unaware of herself; it seemed undignified and if there was anything that she had learnt, it was that she hated to be undignified.

But that's what she feared she would become. She would look like an undignified harlot. She would be the home wrecker who had destroyed the perfect family by corrupting the saviour. It was going to be a messy situation and there was no doubt in her mind that everyone would blame her for it, just as they had placed the blame on Mary Margaret when she had been caught in her affair with David. Of course, they would not remember that when it came to Regina and Emma, they would just see her as the Evil Queen. It wouldn't be seen as some nauseating testament to how true love would always win out and that they would always find each other.

True love. Regina took a hasty swig of her drink as she gazed into the fire that warmed her study with its hearty glow. It was a foolish concept to even bring up. Her true love had died, he was gone and Regina had been witness to both of those painful moments. What Emma and her had, it was not true love. It wasn't anything close to love. It couldn't be.

But even as Regina contemplated the flames further, she couldn't begin to deny the thoughts that suddenly blared through her mind. It was as though tiny voices were screaming in her head, forcing her to hear what they were saying. One little voice enquired just how Regina felt so safe when she was in Emma's arms. Another reminded her of the way her heart had fluttered when the saviour had kissed her chest, as if she had been making a promise to protect the organ that had been beating within.

These feelings…they hadn't exactly come out of nowhere either, if Regina had was being truly honest with herself. Despite the aggravation and the hostility that they had shared in the first year, Regina could not deny that she had been impressed by the blonde's spirit. She could not deny the exhilaration that she had felt when given a challenge for the first time in 28 years. It had felt as though life had been breathed back into her, in a way that not even Henry had been able to achieve.

Then there were those months of fighting for Henry, those moments of teamwork, support and comfort. There was the fact that Emma had opened up about letting Regina see her son, to let her finally prove herself to not be the woman who graced the pages of that infernal storybook. There was no denying that she had needed to prove herself, she couldn't just turn back and attempt to murder the town, she couldn't put her son through that anymore. She couldn't be selfish and Emma had understood, she had seen it in her eyes and her actions and had finally let her truly prove herself with an open mind.

However, it was nothing compared to that day that Emma had agreed with Henry, who had wholeheartedly believed she had changed. The day she had grasped Regina's hand in an unprecedented display of support and emotion and told her that she didn't believe that she was that evil woman that people said she was, the one she used to be. From that moment on, she had just been Regina, the uptight mayor who enjoyed tormenting Emma on the small details, just to get that knowing smirk and playful banter in return. She had craved it; relished in it.

If she really allowed herself to think, she may have been developing feelings for Emma Swan for quite some time. So much so that, it did not seem entirely absurd that the woman could potentially be able to love her, could be able to accept the love that Regina found she might want to give her. It wasn't gratitude for her son, as she had once thought before. It had been gratitude that Emma, the woman who had barrelled into her life and had seemingly been tied to her through fate to destroy her curse, had found the heart to understand and even care for Regina.

Chuckling darkly at the revelation, the brunette shook her head in disbelief. It seemed that being the product of true love, Emma seemed to have a glaringly large amount of goodness in her heart, enough to care for the Evil Queen. It was a good that didn't match up with the paragons of good that were her parents, however. It was a goodness protected by walls constructed after a hard life, that Regina found herself feeling incredibly guilty over. It allowed her to understand the darkness in away that no one else could seem to, as it had touched her too. Unlike Regina, however, she had found a way to fight through, to reach that goodness within and for that Regina couldn't help but admire the blonde for all of her strength. In fact, she loved it.

"Who'd have thought I would start to fall for the saviour?" she muttered to the empty room.

It was going to end badly. She knew it would, she could sense it and yet she couldn't seem to care. If Rumplestiltskin wanted to avenge his son's honour then so be it. If the Charmings decided to slander her name until she truly was seen as nothing more than the Evil Queen, then so be it. She was going to fight for Emma. She could see a glimmer of hope of a happy ending; she could see Henry and Emma standing by her side, as a family.

Yes, Henry would be angry at first. It would not be guaranteed that he would understand why his mothers were better matched then his mother and father, but deep down, she was sure that he would be happy, eventually. It was a hope that Regina was going to fight for. For once, she was going to take a chance when it came to this and she would not go down without a fight. For the first time in what had been decades of strife, she truly felt like her happy ending could be within reach.

With new determination and a new goal in sight, Regina found herself finishing her cider and stowing the rest of the bottle away for another day. Starting tomorrow, she was going to start her new path and there was nothing, not even the threat of Neal, the Charmings and Rumplestiltskin that would stand in her way.


End file.
